Every year, at Easter we can observe a full moon or full moon, one of the four lunar phases that occurs when our planet is located between the Sun and the Moon, almost aligned. The result is perceived as a fully illuminated disk, an image that the curious and fans cannot stop admiring or photographing.
It is no coincidence that we can always observe this phenomenon at Easter. It is not a simple coincidence, but a tradition that dates back many years.
This was established at the Council of Nicaea, in the year 325. It was decided that Easter Sunday would be the day after the first full moon after the spring equinox. With this reference established by the Catholic Church, the holiday must be celebrated between March 22 and April 25.
In this way, there is always a full moon at Easter. This calendar also explains why some Holy Weeks fall earlier and others later. That is to say, that the date of this festivity never coincides from one year to the next.
This first full moon of spring, which also coincides with the celebration of Holy Week, is known in many ways. Some refer to it as the ‘Pink Moon’, although it has little to do with the color it adopts, because it is still whitish.
This adjective responds to the decision of the first Native Americans, who named it that way in honor of the first spring flowers, the wild Phlox. The native tribes of North America associated the appearance of this phase of the moon with the flowering of a plant called creeping phlox, moss phlox or mountain phlox (phlox subulata), a floral species native to America, which always blooms for a week. before Easter.
This full moon is also known as the ‘Pascual Moon’. In this case, for religious reasons, coinciding with the celebration of Holy Week.
In this 2023, the full moon can be observed at dawn on April 6. The best time to see it from our country will be at 05:35, the moment of its maximum splendor.
