BULL. 30] 



CALCITE CALENDAR 



189 



Atripuy in the region of the lower Rio 

 Grande, N. Mex., in 1598.— Onate (1598) 

 in Doc. Ined., xvi, 115, 1871. 



Calcite. — Carbonate of calcium, the 

 essential constitutent of chalk and lime- 

 stone, when pure, colorless, and trans- 

 parent, tliough sometimes yellow and 

 red and even black. The crystals, which 

 are so soft as to be readily shaped with 

 primitive knives and scrapers, are of 

 general occurrence and were eniployed 

 by the Indians in the manufacture of 

 ornaments and minor sculptures. See 

 Stone-work. ( w. h. h. ) 



Caldrons. See Receptacles. 



Caldwell, Billy. See Sagaunash. 



Calendar. Although the methods of 

 computing time had been carried to an 

 advanced stage among the cultured tribes 

 of Mexico and Central America, the In- 

 dians N. of ]\Iexico had not brought them 

 beyond the simplest stage. The alterna- 

 tion of day and night and the changes of 

 the moon and the seasons formed the 

 bases of their systems. The budding, 

 blooming, leafing, and fruiting of vegeta- 

 tion, the springing forth, growth, and 

 decay of annuals, and the molting, mi- 

 gration, pairing, etc., of animals and birds 

 were used to denote the progress of the 

 seasons. The divisions of the day dif- 

 ered, many tribes recognizing 4 diur- 

 nal periods — the rising and setting of the 

 sun, noon, and midnight — while full days 

 were usually counted as so many nights 

 or sleeps. The years were generally 

 reckoned, especially in the far n., as 

 so many winters or so many snows; but 

 in the Gulf states, where snow is rare and 

 the beat of summer the dominant feature, 

 the term for year had some reference to 

 this season or to the heat of the sun. As 

 a rule the four seasons — spring, summer, 

 autumn, and winter — were recognized 

 and specific names applied to them, but 

 the natural phenomena by which they 

 were determined, and from which their 

 names were derived, varied according to 

 latitude and environment, and as to 

 whether the tribe was in the agricultural 

 or the hunter state. Some authorities 

 state that the Indians of Virginia divided 

 the year into live seasons: (1) The bud- 

 ding of spring; (2) the earing of corn, or 

 roasting-ear time; (3) summer, or highest 

 sun; (4) corn -gathering, or fall of the leaf; 

 and (5) winter {cohonk). According to 

 Mooney the Cherokee and most of the 

 southeastern tribes also divided the year 

 into five seasons. Swanton and Boas 

 state that some of the tribes of the N. W. 

 coast divided the year into two equal 

 parts, with 6 months or moons to each 

 part, the summer period extending from 

 April to September, the winter jjeriod 

 from October to March. Many tribes 

 began the year with the vernal equinox; 



others began it in the fall, the Kiowa 

 about Oct. 1, the Hopi with the "new 

 fire" in. November, the Takulii in Janu- 

 ary, etc. The most important time di- 

 vision to the Indians n. of Mexico was 

 the moon, or month, their count of this 

 period beginning with the new moon. 

 So far as can be ascertained, it was not 

 universal in the past to correlate the 

 moons with the year; where correlation 

 was attempted, in order that the moons 

 should bear a fixed relation to the sea- 

 sons, 12 was the number usually reckoned; 

 but some of the tribes, as those of New 

 England, the Cree, and some others 

 counted 13. The Kiowa system, although 

 counting 12 moons to the year, presents 

 the peculiarity of half a moon in one of 

 the unequal four seasons, and the other 

 half in the following season, thus begin- 

 ning the year with the last half of a moon. 

 Among the Zuni half the months are 

 "nameless," the other half "named." 

 The year is called a "passage of time," the 

 seasons the " steps" of the year, and the 

 months "crescents," probably because 

 each begins with anew moon. The new 

 year is termed "mid- journey of the sun," 

 i. e., the middle of the solar trip between 

 one summer solstice and another, and 

 occurring about the 19th of December 

 usually initiates a short season of great 

 religious activity. The first six months 

 have definite and appropriate names, 

 the others, while called the "nameless" 

 months, are designated, in ritualistic 

 speech, Yellow, Blue, Red, White, Varie- 

 gated, and Black, after the colors of the 

 prayer-sticks sacrificed in rotation at 

 the full of each moon to the gods of the 

 north, west, south, east, zenith, and nadir, 

 respectively represented by those colors 

 (Gushing in Millstone, ix, 58, Apr. 

 1884). There appears to have been an 

 attempt on the part of some tribes to com- 

 pensate for the surplus days in the solar 

 year. Carver (Trav., 160, 1796), speaking 

 of the Sioux or the Chippewa, says that 

 when thirty moons have waned they add 

 a supernumerary one, which they term 

 the lost moon. The Haida formerly in- 

 tercalated what they called a "between 

 month," because between the two pe- 

 riods into which they divided the year, 

 and it is likely that this was sometimes 

 omitted to correct the calendar (Swanton 

 in Am. Anthrop., v, 331, 1903). The 

 Creeks counted 122 moons to the year, 

 adding a moon at the end of every second 

 year, half counted in the preceding and 

 half in the following year, somewhat 

 as did the Kiowa. The Indians gen- 

 erally calculated their ages by some re- 

 markable event or i)henomenon which 

 had taken place within their remem- 

 brance; but few Indians of mature years 

 could possibly tell their age before learn- 



