On the Lunar Calendar of the Illinois

The world of the Illinois moved in a twelve-month lunar cycle. From mid-spring through summer, the name of each month is related to corn agriculture; the names that the Illinois gave to late summer and autumn months are for the most part hunting-related.

The following are the translations of the names that the early Illinois peoples applied to the months of the year. Pierre-François Pinet, a Jesuit missionary who worked among the Wea at Chicago in the closing years of the 17th century and with Tamaroa, Cahokia and Kaskaskia in the opening years of the 18th century, and who composed a French/Miami-Illinois dictionary,  states that the months’ names that he collected were specifically from the Illinois, which for him would have been the Illinois bands known as the Tamaroa and the Cahokia. A certain amount of variability in assigning these names to a particular lunar cycle is implied by Pinet’s entry, <<  nous contons autrement les lunes  >> (“we count the moons differently”). In addition, because time among the Illinois was measured by a lunar calendar, the months do not coincide with the months of the Gregorian calendar. The Illinois months probably fell more toward the end of the following hyphenated modern sets of months than toward the beginning.

January-February: the Raccoon Moon, the time of the year when raccoons become active after the winter snows and are in rut
February-March: the Sandhill Crane Moon, the time when these birds return as harbingers of spring
March-April: the Cold-Water Moon, a month perhaps so named because the water at that time of year differs in form from winter’s ice, and in temperature from summer river water
April-May: the Rest Moon, a time of no organized labor
May-June: the Digging Moon, the time for preparing the fields for planting
June-July: the Mounding-the-Corn Moon or the Corn-Tassel Moon
July-August: the Harvest Moon.
August-September:  the Elk Moon.
September-October: When-the-Leaves-Dry-Out Moon
October-November: the Deer Moon or the Fires-Spreading Moon.
November-December: When-the-Deer-Drop-Antlers Moon
December-January: Winter Moon.

The Jesuits indicate by supplementary remarks that the months named after animals refer to the times when the animals are in rut. Though the buffalo does not have a month named for it, this animal is mentioned by Pinet in association with the Harvest Moon.

Michael McCafferty
©2015