werewolf, flickr
Werewolves are imaginary creatures—or are they—who are human by day but turn into wolves on nights there is a full moon, the time when the entire face of the moon is illuminated by the sun’s rays. Many legends exist about these terrifying creatures who love to feast on the flesh of babies and corpses. A dominant figure in modern horror fiction, they are endowed with heightened senses and great strength. A bite from one of these shape-shifters would be unfortunate, for it would cause the recipient to turn into a werewolf during the next full moon, a time when many people are said to go crazy.
During the Middle Ages in Europe, those who were mentally ill were often brought to court and accused of being werewolves. Maybe that is why two or more of these horrendous creatures are known as a lunacy of werewolves. Does the full moon make you insane? Or does it turn you into a werewolf?
full moon, wolves, max pixel
Sleepwalking, fits of violence, abnormal illegal activity, and of course, turning into a werewolf have long been associated with the time of the full moon. But does it really affect our behavior? What do you think?
Full Wolf Moon is just one of the nicknames the Native Americans gave to January’s full moon. Is that the only full moon they came up with other names for?
Native Americans and the Full Moon
Early Native Americans didn’t keep track of the days, months, or seasons by using the Julian or Gregorian calendar. So how did they keep track of what time of year it was? They kept track of the seasons by giving distinctive names to each full moon. That way, they would know the type of weather they would be having, whether hunting would be good or not, and how successful planting would be. Depending on where you live, these nicknames may or may not apply to the full moons you see.
If the full moon really did affect how each of them behaved, don’t you think they would have given each month’s full moon nicknames associated with human behavior? Of course, January’s Full Wolf Moon could have been the time when affected people would turn into werewolves, but then that would have meant that January was the only month that happened.
A lot of nicknames the Indians gave the full moon are mentioned below, but in some of the videos, even more nicknames are mentioned.
January – Full Wolf Moon, Old Moon, Moon after Yule, Full Snow Moon
February – Full Snow Moon, Hunger Moon
March – Full Worm Moon, Full Crow Moon, Full Crust Moon, and Full Sap Moon
April –Full Pink Moon, Full Sprouting Grass Moon, Egg Moon, Full Fish Moon
May – Full Flower Moon, Full Corn Planting Moon, Milk Moon
June – Full Strawberry Moon
July – Full Buck Moon, Full Thunder Moon, Full Hay Moon
August – Full Sturgeon Moon, Full Red Moon, Green Corn Moon, Grain Moon
September – Full Corn Moon, Full Barley Moon
October – Full Hunter’s Moon
November – Full Beaver Moon, Frosty Moon
December – Full Cold Moon, Moon before Yule, Full Long Nights Moon
Writing Prompts
The Native Americans gave the full moon so many nicknames. Reasons the Indians blessed the full moon with these names are given in the above videos, but what if their real reasons were different? Create entertaining reasons for all of the different names each month’s full moon was called and write stories to back them up.
What if the Full Wolf Moon really did bring out the werewolves? Would anyone be safe? What if this happened during every full moon instead of just in January? Would everyone eventually be turned into a werewolf?
