And after an absolutely endless February —every year February seems to get longer, doesn’t it?—March 2026 will bring a spring breeze, daylight saving time, and a return of light to Montreal.
March will begin with a very beautiful (even if it has a very frightening name) cosmic phenomenon that turns the full moon blood red…
The Worm Moon – the full moon of March
According to legend, the nameWorm Mooncomes from the worms that emerge from the ground at this time of year, as spring approaches and the temperature warms up. It is also known as the Sleeping Moon, Wind Moon, Chaste Moon, Windy Moon, Harvest Moon, or Corn Moon, depending on tradition.
Because it is the moon directly before the spring equinox on March 20, it is officially thelast moon of winter…
The Blood Moon
When we talk about a total lunar eclipse, some rays of sunlight still reach the moon, passing through the Earth’s atmosphere. The short-wave rays of sunlight, blue and green, are scattered and lost, while the long-wave rays—red—reach the surface of the moon.
A large coppery moon appears, which, depending on your mood, is either a good omen or something vaguely frightening that you hide behind closed curtains. Pagan religions see the eclipse as the end of a cycle and the beginning of a new period, the ancient Babylonians as a prediction of the death of a king, but it is mainly considered a period of transformation and reflection.
The red color of the moon during this event gave it the name ” Blood Moon .”
How can we see it?
Thered moonphenomenonoccurswhen there is a total eclipse, and in Montreal, it will be on the night of March 2 to 3, 2026.
The partial eclipse will begin at 4:05 a.m. and the total eclipse will occur at 6:04 a.m. The total eclipse will be visible throughout Quebec—just set an alarm and look out the window if you have a perfectly positioned window and live in a movie.
In Montreal, there is a lot of light pollution, so to see the blood moon, we will have to find places where the sky is clearest… We have three places here:
- Bellevue Observatory
- Belvédère Outremont
- Botanical Garden and Planetarium
Enjoy watching the Blood Moon!