Wolf Moon has a different name in different cultures, NASA said.
Depending on the season, as the first full moon of winter, the Algonquin tribes of what is now the northern and eastern United States called it Wolf’s Moon, from the packs of wolves howling hungry outside the villages, amid the cold, deep snow of winter. .
Another name is the Ice Moon. The full moon in December is called the Cold Moon.
Europeans have called this the Moon after Yule, a 3-day winter solstice festival in pre-Christian Europe. Another English name is “Old Moon”.
Because the full moon is closest to the winter solstice, this is the long night moon. The plane of the moon’s orbit around the Earth almost matches the plane of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun.
For Hindus, this full moon is Datta Jayanti, which commemorates the birthday of the Hindu god Dattatreya (Datta). For Sri Lankan Buddhists, this is Unduvap Poya.
It can also be called Chang’e Moon, after three Chinese lunar landers were launched at this time of year in 2013, 2018 and 2020. These missions are named after the Chinese goddess of the moon, Chang’e, who lived on Moon with her pet rabbit, Yutu.