74 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 195 



Month Ponca name Translation of Ponca name 



May M6-pahq,ga Summer begins. 



June MastS-pahqgq Hot weather begins. 



July M^-oskqskq Middle of summer. 



August Wadd-pi-piie Corn is in silk. 



September Apa-hota-mi Moon when the elk bellow. 



October Tqde-mdsqde-u-zi They store food in caches. 



November Osni-ohq,ge Beginning of cold weather. 



December Mdde-ohqge-snlade-akS Beginning of cold weather 



with snow. 



Of the terms listed above, those for March and May were also 

 known to PLC and OK; those for March, May, and July to AMC; 

 and the term for May to Ed Primeaux. OK gave variant terms for 

 January and February, the first being a recent term which was used 

 only by the Northern Ponca. January was Mi-nuxe-datede, 'The 

 moon when (even) kerosene freezes,' and February Mi-md-ndska, 

 'Moon when the snow melts.' AMC called December Ma-de-oskqskq, 

 'Middle of winter.' Ed Primeaux called January Ddxte-ma-ndga , 

 'Deer paw the snow (in search of food).' 



The Ponca divided the year into four seasons, according to PLC. 

 The names of these were: 



Season Ponca name Translation of Ponca name 



Spring Mi-pahqga Beginning of summer. 



Summer M6 or Nuge Summer. 



Fall Tq,gqk4q When leaves fall. 



Winter Md-de Snow. 



The use of these terms was confirmed by AMC. Note that the 

 term for spring is the same as that for the month of May. 



Correlations between the growth of plants and the habits of the 

 bison were noted. AMC mentioned an old Ponca saying: "When 

 the shoes tringweed is in bloom, the buffalo mate." Stages in the 

 growth of plants also governed the activities of the tribe. Skinner 

 writes that the buffalo hunt took place "when the squaw corn was 

 about a foot high" (1915 c, p. 795). Ed Primeaux, a former partici- 

 pant in the Sun dance, said that this ceremony was held when the 

 corn was in silk. 



According to PLC the Ponca used the position of the sun and 

 stars as a rough measurement of time. Adam Le Claire told me 

 that the Peyote "fire chief" still keeps track of the time during a 

 ceremony by noting the position of the stars. He keeps the "road 

 chief" or leader informed, and this official regulates the ceremony 

 accordingly. 



Dorsey (1885 a, pp. 105-108) mentions that the Ponca of his day 

 believed that the sun "went traveling across the sky each day." 

 My informants did not know of this belief. Dorsey (ibid.) also 



