--- title: The Indian Names For the Months or Moons — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · full text with trees description: The Indian Names For the Months or Moons, «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd: the whole chapter, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. It begins: The moon goes through its changes from new moon to new moon in twenty-eight days. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73136/15/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Wigwam stories told by North American…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73136/) / The Indian Names For the Months or Moons # The Indian Names For the Months or Moons The Indian Names For the Months or Moons of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd: the whole text, 58 sentences and 685 words. The small number after every sentence leads to its own page with its syntax tree and pragmatics, parsed by Mova itself. The moon goes through its changes from new moon to new moon in twenty-eight days.[1](1/ "tree and pragmatics") The Indians reckon their time of year by these changes in the Night Sun, as they call the moon.[2](2/ "tree and pragmatics") Tribes living in different parts of America have various names for the months, which they call Moons.[3](3/ "tree and pragmatics") They all keep their calendar hung in the sky, and it is never lost for any length of time.[4](4/ "tree and pragmatics") They have given these moons names after what interests them most.[5](5/ "tree and pragmatics") One nation has named them in the following way.[6](6/ "tree and pragmatics") The month in our calendar is also given, so that you can easily guess the Indian’s reason for his name for the month.[7](7/ "tree and pragmatics") January The Cold Moon.[8](8/ "tree and pragmatics") February The Snow Moon.[9](9/ "tree and pragmatics") March The Green Moon.[10](10/ "tree and pragmatics") April The Moon of Plants.[11](11/ "tree and pragmatics") May The Moon of Flowers.[12](12/ "tree and pragmatics") June The Hot Moon.[13](13/ "tree and pragmatics") July The Moon of the Deer.[14](14/ "tree and pragmatics") August The Sturgeon Moon.[15](15/ "tree and pragmatics") September The Fruit Moon.[16](16/ "tree and pragmatics") October The Traveling Moon.[17](17/ "tree and pragmatics") November The Beaver Moon.[18](18/ "tree and pragmatics") December The Hunting Moon.[19](19/ "tree and pragmatics") If you were spending the year among the Sioux or Dakotas, little Winona might tell you that January is the Hard Moon.[20](20/ "tree and pragmatics") February is when the braves and the boys take their dogs and hunt the raccoon; hence, they call it the ’Coon Moon.[21](21/ "tree and pragmatics") The Sioux have lived for a long time in the north.[22](22/ "tree and pragmatics") They know the effect of the bright sunshine of March when it shines upon the snowdrifts.[23](23/ "tree and pragmatics") It is called the Moon of Snow-blindness.[24](24/ "tree and pragmatics") April is the Egg Moon.[25](25/ "tree and pragmatics") It is the moon when the wild geese lay their eggs, and the Indians gather them for food.[26](26/ "tree and pragmatics") The next time you watch the dark triangle of wild geese flying northward, you can say it is near the time of the Egg Moon of the Dakotas.[27](27/ "tree and pragmatics") May is the Planting Moon.[28](28/ "tree and pragmatics") What\![29](29/ "tree and pragmatics") You did not know that the copper-colored people planted anything?[30](30/ "tree and pragmatics") Oh, yes, they do\![31](31/ "tree and pragmatics") Remember our maize, or Indian corn, is one great gift from them.[32](32/ "tree and pragmatics") June has the prettiest name.[33](33/ "tree and pragmatics") Bright, beautiful June that we all love.[34](34/ "tree and pragmatics") It is the Strawberry Moon.[35](35/ "tree and pragmatics") The luscious wild strawberries are more delicate in flavor than any grown in the gardens.[36](36/ "tree and pragmatics") The wild Indian has many dainties.[37](37/ "tree and pragmatics") July, our red-white-and-blue month, is their Moon of Red Lilies.[38](38/ "tree and pragmatics") Has it ever been your good fortune to see a vast tract of land covered with these gorgeous wild tiger-lilies?[39](39/ "tree and pragmatics") O Moon of Red Lilies, how beautiful you make our western prairies\![40](40/ "tree and pragmatics") In this same moon the wild cherry is ripe, and many tribes know it as the Cherry Moon.[41](41/ "tree and pragmatics") August is the Ripe Moon.[42](42/ "tree and pragmatics") Have you ever heard of the Harvest Moon?[43](43/ "tree and pragmatics") Is not that nearly the same name?[44](44/ "tree and pragmatics") Seeds from thistle and the milkweed are filling the air with their downy carriers.[45](45/ "tree and pragmatics") Wild grasses and grains are ready for the gatherers, and the maize will shortly be ready for the harvest.[46](46/ "tree and pragmatics") While at Lake Superior, some time ago, we saw Chippewa Indians in their birch-bark canoes, anchored in what seemed to be a very reedy bay.[47](47/ "tree and pragmatics") We found out that the bay was filled with wild rice instead of reeds and rushes.[48](48/ "tree and pragmatics") It was the time of their wild-rice gathering.[49](49/ "tree and pragmatics") Two moons are given names referring to wild rice: September is the Ripe-rice Moon; October is often called the Harvest Moon.[50](50/ "tree and pragmatics") With plenty of maize and wild rice the winter is not dreaded.[51](51/ "tree and pragmatics") The Indian puts away his winter stores with much the same care that his white brother uses; he stores corn in pits that he digs in the earth.[52](52/ "tree and pragmatics") He could learn this from the squirrel.[53](53/ "tree and pragmatics") November is the Moon of Michabo, or Indian Summer.[54](54/ "tree and pragmatics") Michabo is another name for Menabozho, the Chippewa Indian’s manitou friend; he has given them this second summer of the year, they believe.[55](55/ "tree and pragmatics") December is the Moon of Dropping Horns.[56](56/ "tree and pragmatics") The deer lose their long antlers about this time, and the Indians can find them in the forests where the deer trails are.[57](57/ "tree and pragmatics") The Indians have twelve moons in their year, the same number that we have in our calendar.[58](58/ "tree and pragmatics") - ← previous: [Meaning of Indian Totems and Names](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73136/14/) - next →: [Customs of Kickapoo, Seminole, and Other Tribes](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73136/16/) - ↑ back to [Wigwam stories told by North American Indians](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73136/)