According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, the name comes from a flowering plant called wild ground phlox, or pink moss, which is one of the first wildflowers that blooms in the US Northeast during the spring.
Other names used by indigenous people for the April Full Moon are the Breaking Ice Moon (Algonquin), Broken Snowshoe Moon (Anishinaabe), Budding Moon of Plants and Shrubs (Tlingit), Frog Moon (Cree), Moon of the Red Grass Appearing (Oglala), Moon When the Ducks Come Back (Lakota), Moon When the Geese Lay Eggs (Dakota), Moon When the Streams are Again Navigable (Dakota), Sucker Moon (Anishinaabe), and Sugar Maker Moon (Western Abenaki).
It’s also important to note that these names do not specifically refer to the Full Moon, alone.
Like other advanced cultures around the world, the indigenous peoples of North America tracked their year using a lunar calendar. Thus, the name used for each moon actually refers to the ‘lunation’ — the roughly 28-day period between when the first Waxing Crescent Moon appears in the sky after the New Moon, and when the last Waning Crescent Moon is seen, just before the next New Moon.
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Setting up a Blue Moon
The occurrence of this Full Pink Moon sets up some interesting timing for the Full Moons ahead.
With it happening right on April 1, the next Full Moon after — May’s Full Flower Moon — will also rise on the first night of the month.