Pink Moon
April's full moon is called the Pink Moon for the early spring blooms of moss pink, or creeping phlox. The name points to flowers on the ground, not a change in the Moon's color. It is a seasonal label carried in modern almanac lists.
, 2027
· 22:27 UTC · Moon in Scorpio
Where the name comes from
The pink behind the name belongs to Phlox subulata, a wildflower native to eastern North America and commonly known as creeping phlox, moss phlox, or moss pink. The Old Farmer's Almanac connects its early spring flowers with the name, linking the lunar month with something visible close to the ground. The Farmers' Almanac gives the same botanical explanation, while timeanddate also traces the label to spring-blooming pink phlox. This is a Northern Hemisphere seasonal name, not a description of conditions everywhere the full moon can be seen.
The accounts are less precise about who first used the name: Royal Museums Greenwich broadly credits Northern Native Americans, while the Old Farmer's Almanac describes its full-moon names as drawn from Native American, Colonial American, and European traditions. Those summaries differ in scope and do not establish a single community as the documented originator of Pink Moon. The Old Farmer's Almanac also explains that traditional names could refer to an entire lunar month rather than only the night of the full moon, a distinction easily lost in modern monthly lists. For the six alternative names collected here, the wording and community attributions follow that publication; they describe several seasonal traditions rather than one shared naming system.
Other names for the April full moon
- Breaking Ice Moon — Algonquin
- Moon When the Streams are Again Navigable — Dakota
- Moon When the Ducks Come Back — Lakota
- Broken Snowshoe Moon — Anishinaabe
- Frog Moon — Cree
- Sugar Maker Moon — Western Abenaki
What the season is doing
Across the northern United States, the seasonal picture behind these names includes thawing waterways, returning waterfowl, maple sap, and the first visible growth of spring. The Old Farmer's Almanac links its April names with breaking ice, streams becoming navigable again, ducks returning, and geese laying eggs. Its plant-related alternatives point to budding shrubs and emerging grass, while Sugar Maker Moon connects the period with maple sugaring. The same publication places the Anishinaabe Sucker Moon in April or May, when sucker fish return to streams or lake shallows to spawn. Together, these references describe overlapping seasonal changes, not a promise that every flower, thaw, or animal return will coincide with one full moon.
What the name does not mean
Despite the name, this full moon is not expected to look pink. The Farmers' Almanac explicitly distinguishes its floral name from its appearance, and the Old Farmer's Almanac likewise explains that the color belongs to moss pink blossoms. That almanac separately describes a possible golden appearance near the horizon and the Moon illusion, which can make a rising moon seem larger than usual. Neither is a special property conferred by the April name. Pink Moon is a traditional label for the season, not a separate astronomical type or a forecast of the Moon's color or size.
Pink Moon dates, 2025 to 2030
Between 2025 and 2030 the Pink Moon falls as early as April 1 (2026) and as late as April 28 (2029), in Libra or Scorpio: a full moon sits opposite the Sun, which at this time of year is in Aries or Taurus.
The Pink Moon is the same disc for everyone. Which part of your own chart it falls across depends on your birth date, and that is what a personal reading looks at. See a reading built from your birth moon →
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When is the Pink Moon in 2027?
On Tuesday, April 20, 2027, at 6:27 PM EDT (22:27 UTC), with the Moon in Scorpio. Central, Mountain and Pacific clocks read one, two and three hours earlier.
Is the Pink Moon also the Paschal Moon?
It can be, but the terms serve different purposes. Timeanddate notes that April's full moon can also be the Paschal Moon associated with calculating Easter. The Old Farmer's Almanac distinguishes the ecclesiastical full moon used in that calculation from the astronomical event, so the two labels are not interchangeable definitions.
How is the Pink Moon different from the Flower Moon?
In the monthly lists used by the Old Farmer's Almanac and the Farmers' Almanac, Pink Moon belongs to April and Flower Moon to May. The former points specifically to early phlox blooms. The latter refers more broadly to flowers becoming abundant as spring progresses, rather than to one particular plant.
What does the Pink Moon mean spiritually?
Contemporary spiritual interpretations often read it as a symbol of renewal or rebirth, drawing on its spring setting. That symbolism is an interpretation, not an astronomical property or evidence of a lunar effect. The almanac explanations center on flowering phlox and seasonal changes; they do not establish a single spiritual meaning shared across traditions.
The months either side
Sources for the name and its history: almanac.com · timeanddate.com · farmersalmanac.com · en.wikipedia.org · rmg.co.uk · sites.marjon.ac.uk · vaonis.com · surrendertohappiness.com. Dates, times and signs: our own calculation, checked against the US Naval Observatory.