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 | | Historical Readings about the Spokane Indians | |
The Local Indian Calendar
Much of the Indians People's lives centered around
food and they moved about from one region to another
seeking food which was in season at that time. It was
reasonable then that the measure of time was by food
that was in season.
And the months ("moons") used by the local Native Americans
do not exactly correspond to the period of the
European calendar we use today. Here are the names
as presented by one writer:
- the Time when Leaves Yellowed and Died
- the season we know as November. People began moving to their winter homes.
- Snowflake Time began in December
- the Blizzard seasonwas in January
- the Time of White Snow was in February
- Buttercup Time was in March and extended into our month of April
- Leaf Budding time and Leaf Unfolding Time
followed next in April
- High Water Time, Bitterroot Time and
Sunflower Time were names for the months of May extending into June
- Service Berry Time was around July
Then there were flowers on the ground at high elevations.
- Wild Cherry Time and Chokecherry Time
came in August
- Berry Picking Time and Salmon Spawning Time were in September
- Salmon Run Time was in what we call October.
This is when the major salmon runs came up the Columbia River.
NOTE -
The preceding information is from
a mimeographed pamphlet published by the
Stevens County Historical Society in 1981:
Indians of the Kettle Falls Area, pages 8-9.
It is attributed to Ruth Larkin, Kettle River Country.
Last Updated
December 21, 2004
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