Bill Reid | For The Bulletin
Monday evening brings the Wolf Moon, the first full moon of the new year with peak illumination at 6:51 p.m. Look for it to rise from the northeastern horizon around sunset.
In New England, and all the way west to Lake Superior, we use the traditional names given by the Algonquin peoples for the full moons. Why is January the Wolf Moon? According to legend, January is when wolves are most likely to be heard howling. Long ago it was thought wolves howled in January because of hunger, but we now understand wolf howling is done for several reasons – to identity and claim territory, locate mates and pack members, organize hunting and strengthen the pack’s social bond.
Today, there are no wolves left in our region to howl at the full moon, as they have been long extirpated from this part of the country as an apex predator. But perhaps we should consider changing the name of the January full moon to the Eastern Coyote Moon, the canid species that has supplanted the wolf. My guess is all readers of this column have heard the howl of the eastern coyote (as well as their other varied vocalizations). That sound, on a cold winter night, can send a shiver up your spine, just as the sound of a wolf howl may have once done for the inhabitants of this region prior to the mid-18th century.
The region’s connection to the wolf dates to its earliest human inhabitants. The Mohegan people of the region call themselves the wolf people. The first sentences of the Mohegan mission statement say “We are the Wolf People, children of Mundo, a part of the Tree of Life. Our ancestors form our roots, our living Tribe is the trunk, our…
