First Peoples and the Moon

The Native American month is sometimes known as a moon. It is important to note that the moon, or Native American month, only relates to what we know as a month in a general way. Each tribe had their own language, customs and names for things. There are many different names for a Native American month or moons. Here is just a general listing of the more common names.

• January: Cold Moon, Snow Moon, Year Moon, Middle Moon, When The Fellow Spreads the Brush
• February: Hungry Moon, Hunger Moon, Bony Moon, Bone Moon, Sleet Moon, Old Month, Little Bud Month
• March: Awaking Moon, Crow Moon, Warm Moon, Windy Moon, Strawberry Moon, Hot and Cold Moon, Cottonball Moon, Eagle Month, Bud Moon
• April: Geese Moon, Grass Moon, Flower Moon, Spring Moon, Gray Goose Month, Leaf Moon
• May: Flower Moon, Planting Moon, Frog Month, Geese Go North Moon
• June: Buck Moon, Rose Moon, Corn Moon, Green Moon, Leaf Moon, The Month Leaves Come Out, Summer Moon
• July: Blood Moon, Heat Moon, Sun Moon, Ripe Moon, Hot Moon, The Moon When Ducks Molt, Little Moon, Deer Horns Drop Off Moon
• August: Thunder Moon, Drying Up Moon, Summer Moon, New Fall Moon, The Moon When Young Ducks Fly, Yellow Leaves Moon
• September: Sturgeon Moon, Thunder Moon, Nut Moon, Butterfly Moon, Paperman Moon, Wavy Month, When Leaves Fall Off Moon
• October: Traveling Moon, Falling Moon, Falling Leaf Moon, Harvest Moon, The Moon When Birds Fly South, Ten Colds Moon
• November: Mad Moon, Beaver Moon, Trading Moon, Thanking Moon, The Moon When Rivers Freeze, Geese Going Moon
• December: Long Moon, Long Night Moon, Snow Moon, Big Cold Moon, Evergreen Moon, Real Goose Moon

If you look real close at the names for each you can see how they greatly relate to what is going on with nature. Seeing as the Native American’s had no way to document time with a paper calendar like we do today they had to come up with their own way of marking time. What better way to do this then by watching nature? You may find that some of the names overlap. This is due in part to the location. Some locations became colder sooner than others or crops matured sooner in certain locations. However, as you can see the Native American month greatly depicts what is going on even today in regards to nature’s cycle.

More on the moon later ….