368 CALENDAR HISTORY OF THE KIOWA (eth.a™. 17 



The Kiowa recognize twelve or more moons or months, begiuniug 

 the year, according to one authority, with the first cold weather, about 

 the end of October, or according to other authority, with the first snow- 

 fall, about a mouth or more later. They have seven distinct moon or 

 month names, and some of these are duplicated and distinguislied as 

 (/rcdf, small, or of summer, to make the fhll number lor the year. These 

 moons of course do not coincide closely with our calendar months, and 

 as the system is necessarily imperfect, there is a discrepancy of author- 

 ities, some recognizing twelve moons while a few count as many as 

 fourteen or fifteen, the additional names being a further duplication of 

 some of the others, as already explained; all authorities agree on the 

 first eight as here given, and all but one agree on the ninth, after 

 wl.ich there is a discrepancy. The author has made no arbitrary 

 attempt to harmonize contiicting statements, as the result would be 

 artificial and not aboriginal ; and we must expect a certain amount of 

 uncertainty and disagreement on such a complicated subject, among 

 primitive people. Our own calendar system has been of slow growth, 

 and more than one hundred million Europeans still refuse to accept it. 

 The list here given is that obtained from Anko, the best calendar 

 autliority in the tribe, and is that generally accepted by the Kiowa. 

 By means of tally dates from his picture calendar their periods can be 

 pretty closely assigned, although, as will be noticed, even he varies a 

 month in some instances in the course of tliree years. Some of the old 

 men put another moon, P((i Kaguat P'a Siin (see number 5), between 

 Pai Gdiihina P'a and T^igun'otal PUi San. 



1. Gdkiudfo P'a — " Teii-culils moon." It is so called because the first ten days of it 

 are cold, a premonition of winter, .after which it grows warm for .a time; this 

 moon is about equivalent to late September .and early October. It is the first 

 and last moon of the Kiowa year, the old year and the summer being considered 

 to end with the full moon of this period, after which the winter and the new year 

 begin; by the time this moon ends the leaves are oft' the trees; in talking with 

 Aul<o on September 23 (1895) he said: "This is (Takiiidt'o P'd, but it is still sum- 

 mer. After the moon is full and again begins to wane, then winter has begun, 

 and we are in the wintii- lialf of Gdliuat'o r'a." Snow sometimes comes in 

 this :uoou. 



S. .1 tid'iiti or A'(/a'titsdnha (does not take ji'a), from a gu'iiisnn — '• w.ait until I come," 

 or " I am coming soon.'' Aciording to Kiowa folklore, this moon says to his pred- 

 ecessor, " You went, but did nothing. HltiigiV iigd'ntsan — wait, and I'll go, and 

 I'll show what I can do in the way of storms and cold weather." This moon 

 includes parts of October and November. A tally date is the lunar eclipse of 

 November 4, 1892, which is noted on the Anko calendar as occurring in this 

 moon. Some authorities speak of it also as sii-lo}) p'a, "midwinter moon," i. e., 

 midway between two consecutive sun dances, which would seem to bring it 

 nearer to December. 



S. T^pi/an P'a, "Geese-going moon," so called because the geese now begin to ]iass 

 overhead on their migration southward; it may bo considered to include parts 

 of November and December, and is sometimes called Bonpd P'a, "sweathouse 

 moon," for some unexplained reason. (See number 9, Pai Ti'pyan P'a.) 



4. (laiihina P'a, " Real-goose moon," so called because in this moon the great south- 

 ward migriitiou of wild geese occurs; it may be considered to comprise 

 parts of December and .January, although some put it later, as one old man 



