Each Full Moon has a nickname, depending on the month or time of year. In April, there are a number of common nicknames for this month’s Full Moon. The most “popular” (according to the Farmers’ Almanac) is the Full Pink Moon, in reference to the flowering phlox or herb moss pink in Spring. Other nicknames for this Full Moon include the Egg (this Full Moon is often near Easter in the Christian tradition, with the egg celebrating the end of Lent), Fish (because of shad swimming upstream to spawn), and the Sprouting Grass (for obvious Spring reasons in North America).

This Full Moon is also a “perigean spring tide,” which occurs when the Moon is closest to Earth at the same time it is Full.

NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) says, “The difference between ‘perigean spring tide’ and normal tidal ranges for all areas of the coast is small. In most cases, the difference is only a couple of inches above normal spring tides.”

Full Pink Moon – April This name came from the herb moss pink, or wild ground phlox, which is one of the earliest widespread flowers of the spring. Other names for this month’s celestial body include the Full Sprouting Grass Moon, the Egg Moon, and among coastal tribes the Full Fish Moon, because this was the time that the shad swam upstream to spawn.

Watch the beautiful short time lapse video of the full moon below , shot in Kapunda, South Australia on Good Friday April 6th, 2012 as it appears to travel across the sky and dart in behind scattered clouds.