Beaver’s Moon: November Full Moon

Originally written on November 19, 2021. Updated 2025

In 2025, November’s full Beaver Supermoon November’s reaches peak illumination on Wednesday, November 5, at 8:19 A.M. EST, and this is the closest Supermoon of the year, meaning that it will appear bigger and brighter than normal! It will be below the horizon at that time, so be sure to look for it on the evenings of November 4 and 5.
It orbits closer to Earth than any of the other Full Moons this year, making it one of the three Supermoons of 2025! At its nearest point, the Beaver Moon will be 221,817 miles (356,980 kilometers) from Earth, and that’s why this is the closest Supermoon of the year!

As we already know, for decades, we have referenced the monthly full Moons with names tied to early Native American, Colonial American, and European folklore and, traditionally, each full Moon name was applied to the entire lunar month in which it occurred and through all of the Moon’s phases—not only the full Moon.
About the November’s Beaver Moon this is, not by chance, the time of year when beavers become particularly active building their winter dams in preparation for the cold season.
Beavers are mainly nocturnal, so they keep working under the light of the Full Moon. They make dams of wood and mud and, in the middle, they build dome-shaped homes called lodges with underwater entrances.
Beavers continue to grow throughout their lives, and so do their teeth, and that’s why they constantly gnaw on wood, but because the enamel in a beaver’s incisors contains iron, their front teeth never wear down.
In any case, early natives were keenly observant of animals and their habits, they saw that the beavers began to take shelter in their lodges, and they watched animals store food in preparation for the long winter ahead.
However, beavers do not hibernate the cold months away.
Actually, they remain very active, and they go out despite the cold, ice, or snow, as they benefit from a thick winter coat—an oily, waterproof layer that keeps them warm and dry. Basically all the qualities you might want in your own cold-weather apparel!
And no wonder their pelts are prized by trappers: during the time of the fur trade in North America, November was also the season to hunt beavers for their thick, winter-ready pelts.
There used to be more than 60 million North American beavers. However, because people have hunted them for fur and their glands for medicine, among other reasons, the population has declined to around 12 million.

But also November’s Moon other names highlight the actions of animals preparing for winter and the onset of the colder days ahead.
For example Digging (or Scratching) Moon is a Tlingit name that evokes the image of animals foraging for fallen nuts and shoots of green foliage as well as of bears digging their winter dens, while the Dakota and Lakota term Deer Rutting Moon refers to the time when deer are seeking out mates, and the Algonquin Whitefish Moon describes the spawning time for this fish.
In reference to the seasonal change of November, this Moon has been called the Frost Moon by the Cree and Assiniboine peoples and the Freezing Moon by the Anishinaabe and for a good reason, as winter is right around the corner.
Because it is the final full moon before the start of winter it is often called Mourning Moon, and I can understand that, as there was a certain sadness to the upcoming cold weather and to the loss of daylight. However, the astronomical seasons do not match up with the lunar months. Therefore, the month of the Mourning Moon varies. Some years, the Mourning Moon is in November, while other years, it is in December.
On a more symbolic level, the folklore behind these nicknames speaks to the way this month’s full moon can illuminate the things we need to feel warm and safe in a time of increasing seasonal cold and scarcity.
And finally, November is the month of Thanksgiving. Like the Native Americans, hunters, and fur trappers we can take a moment and reflect on our efforts of the past year.
Well…we may not have had to gather or hunt for our food, but we can be grateful for our blessings and modern comforts!

Well…but what is a supermoon, exactly?
Generally speaking, a supermoon is a full moon that appears larger than a typical full moon because it is closer to Earth.
However, there’s a bit more to it than that!
In fact, there are a couple of definitions of “supermoon” out there.
As a broad definition, a supermoon is a new or full moon that occurs when the Moon is near perigee, the point in the Moon’s orbit where it is closest to Earth.
By this definition, there can be several supermoons in a year.
The term, “supermoon,” was coined by astrologer Richard Nolle in 1979, who specified that the Moon must be within 90% of perigee.
On the other hand, as s strict definition, a supermoon is the single closest new moon and full moon of the year. By this definition, there can be only two supermoons each year, a full moon supermoon and a new moon supermoon.

And why do supermoons occur?
It all comes down to the fact that the Moon’s orbit around Earth is not a perfect circle, but an elliptical, oval, shape.
Because of this, the Moon’s distance from Earth changes as it travels around our planet. Additionally, Earth doesn’t sit directly in the middle of this elliptical orbit, so there are points in the Moon’s orbit where it is closest and farthest from Earth. These points are called perigee (the point in the Moon’s orbit where it is closest to Earth) and apogee (the point in the Moon’s orbit where it is farthest from Earth), respectively.
The Moon makes one complete orbit around Earth in about 29.53 days, which means it reaches its perigee and apogee points about once a month. When this occurs simultaneously as a full moon, called “perigee-syzygy” or, more commonly, supermoon!
”Syzygy” is the astronomical term for when three or more celestial bodies (such as the Sun, the Moon, and Earth) line up. When the Sun, Earth, and Moon form a syzygy, we experience a full or new moon, depending on whether the Moon is between the Sun and Earth or Earth is between the Sun and the Moon.
Although it has been all over the news in recent years, “supermoon” is not an official astronomical term. Actually, it didn’t even exist until astrologer Richard Nolle coined it in 1979.
At the time, he defined a supermoon as “a new or full moon which occurs with the Moon at or near (within 90% of) its closest approach to Earth in a given orbit.”

It sounds good but…does a supermoon really look bigger?
Given that a supermoon full moon is closer to Earth than a typical full moon, it does appear larger, about 7% larger.
This means that the difference between a full moon at perigee and a full moon at apogee can be up to 14%, which is significant.
But here’s the critical fact: unless you were somehow able to compare a normal full moon and a supermoon side by side in the sky, it’s nearly impossible to perceive a 7% difference in the Moon’s size!
Even if you could somehow place the year’s biggest possible Moon (the perigee full moon) next to the smallest one (an apogee full moon) in the sky, you’d just barely tell the difference.
In any case, if you want to be guaranteed to see a huge-looking Moon, it’s easy… Simply watch the Moon when it’s rising or setting!
A Moon down near the horizon will always look enormous, thanks to a well-known phenomenon called the Moon illusion, which makes our minds exaggerate the size of objects near the skyline.
In short, If you want a truly massive supermoon, you can have it—any night…