Indian Moons Calendar and Related Information

Indian Moons Calendar

The title on the calendar gives the moon name for this month.
The calendar changes automatically on the first day of each month.
Native American Moon Names
The following examples are from John Neihardt's book, Black Elk Speaks.
These are the words of Black Elk:
"I was born in the Moon of the Popping Trees on the Little Powder River..."
"In the Moon of the Red Grass Appearing about thirty tepees of us broke camp..."
"It was in the Moon When the Cherries Turn Black that the people talked about a battle..."
"In the Moon of Making Fat, Sitting Bull and Gall had a sun dance."
"At the end of the Moon of Falling Leaves after they killed Crazy Horse, the Wasichus (Whites) told us to move..."

Since the Plains Indians did not have a calendar system like ours they did not have actual dates for the full moons. I have chosen, for simplicity, to begin each full moon with the first day of our traditional month. Also, the Plains Indians did not all use the same names. The calendar (above) uses the Lakota (Sioux) moon names. The chart below gives more Lakota names as well as "Native American" moon names from the North of Boston Library Exchange (NOBLE).

Month	Lakota Moon Name(s)	NOBLE Moon Name(s)
JANUARY	Strong Cold, Frost in the Tepee	Wolf Moon
FEBRUARY	Dark Red Calves	Snow, Hunger
MARCH	Snow Blind	Maple Sugar, Worm
APRIL	Red Grass Appearing	Frog, Pink, Planter's
MAY	When Ponies Shed	Flower, Budding
JUNE	Making Fat, Fatness	Strawberry
JULY	Red Cherries, Cherries Are Ripe	Blood, Buck
AUGUST	Black Cherries, Cherries Turn Black	Green Corn, Sturgeon
SEPTEMBER	Black Calf, Calf Grows Hair, Deer Paw the Earth	Harvest
OCTOBER	Changing Season, Drying Grass, Falling Leaves	Hunter's, Falling Leaves
NOVEMBER	Falling Leaves	Beaver
DECEMBER	Popping Trees, Deer Shed Their Horns	Cold