April's full moon — named not for its colour but for the pink wild phlox of early spring. Why it isn't actually pink, and how to see it.
The name comes from the wild ground phlox — moss pink — that carpets the ground in pink across eastern North America in early spring. So the Pink Moon marks a flower, not a colour. Other seasonal names include the Sprouting Grass Moon, the Egg Moon, and, among coastal tribes, the Fish Moon.
The April full moon is a spring moon, riding at a medium height — lower than the winter moons but higher than summer's. It often appears warm and bright, but no warmer-coloured than usual; the 'pink' is purely a naming tradition, not an optical effect.
The 2026 Pink Moon is a Paschal Moon — the first full moon after the spring equinox, the one the Christian calendar uses to fix Easter. The rule, inherited from the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD: Easter falls on the first Sunday after that moon. In 2026 the sequence is tight and tidy — equinox on March 20, full moon in the small hours of April 2 (UTC), and Easter Sunday three days later on April 5. When you watch this moon rise, you are watching the astronomical event that positioned every Easter, Holy Week and carnival date of 2026.
For North America the instant of fullness actually lands on the evening of April 1 local time (10:51 PM EDT) — a April Fools' full moon that is no joke, and a neat reminder that "the" date of a full moon depends on where you stand.
Moss pink — the creeping phlox that gives the moon its name — carpets ground in the eastern United States precisely in this window, one of the first flowers bold enough for early April. The parallel names log the same weeks from other angles: the Sprouting Grass Moon for pastures greening, the Egg Moon for hens resuming their lay with the lengthening days, and among Atlantic coastal tribes the Fish Moon, for the shad running upriver to spawn. April's moon is spring's ledger, written four different ways.
Get a closer look
A beginner telescope or good astronomy binoculars bring the Moon's craters and phases into stunning detail: the CELTICBIRD 70/700 refractor (about €140) or the Celestron SkyMaster 15x70 binoculars (about €130, 22,000+ reviews).
CELTICBIRD 70/700 telescope (~€140) → Celestron SkyMaster 15x70 (~€130) →As an Amazon Associate, Furiosa Studio earns from qualifying purchases.