January
Wolf Moon
In the depth of winter, wolves were said to howl near the hungry villages.
Also called
Old Moon · Ice Moon · Moon after Yule
Origin of the name
The name comes from the farmers’ almanacs of North America, which credited it to the Algonquian peoples: January was the month when the howling carried all the way to the village gates. Old Europe kept a simpler count — this was the moon after Yule, the first of the new year.
The story goes…
It was said that wolves howled with hunger at the edge of sleeping farms. Naturalists tell it differently: a wolf howls to gather its pack and hold its ground, and it is the midwinter mating season that makes it talkative. If the song seems closer in January, it is also because cold, dry air carries sound much farther than summer air does.
The almanac’s word
On a freezing night, a wolf’s howl can be heard more than six miles away: winter is the season for listening far.