🌝A Brilliant Hunter's Moon This Year🍂🍁

When the Moon is Full: A Lunar Year by Penny Pollock,

illustrated by Mary Azarian

Sadly this book is out of print, but can be found in libraries and used book sites like ABEBooks.com

The Hunter's Moon is the first full moon occurring after the Harvest Moon. Both moons help people prepare for the coming winter. The Harvest Moon for food gathering and storing, the Hunter's Moon for getting meat and skins for warmth. And tonight is the night of the Hunter's Moon and if you can see it, it's going to be a brilliant orange casting it's glow across the night sky (and also marking the official start of the Halloween season).

The October poem below is from When the Moon is Full by Penny Pollock. Each of the 12 months is represented by its traditional Native American name, followed by a poem exemplifying the meaning of that moon, and complimented with a absolutely beautiful matching painted woodcut illustration:

After I posted the poem about the Harvest Moon last month, I dug out my old copy of this book. I had used it for teaching when I was still a classroom teacher in the Bronx. New York City kids learn about the history of New York State, and the Six Nations the formed the Iroquois Confederacy (Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and, as of 1722,Tuscarora). My kids were mostly interested in the kinds of things kids relate to - how the Iroquois lived, what they ate, what did they do for entertainment, how they dressed. I used When the Moon is Full to help them understand the importance of the lunar calendar in the life of Native Americans. And even though it wasn't related to New York, we also read The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich, which my kids always loved.

If you would like to know more about the Six Nations, please visit Haudenosaunee Guide for Educators