The Iroquois Calendar
The Iroquois live in the northern part of New York State and in some parts of Canada. They call themselves the Haudenosaunee. "Iroquois" is the name given them by the French. Long ago they worked out a calendar by watching both the moon and the sun. Their year had 13 moons. Each moon had 28 days.
1. How many days were in the Iroquois year? ____________________ days.
2. How many days are in our year? ____________________ days.
Write what you know about the months in the calendar we use.
3. Each Iroquois moon had a name. The first moon was called Nis-ko-wok-neh, the moon of snow and blizzards. The fifth moon was Wen-taa-kwo, the flowers. The ninth moon was Ke-to-ok-neh, the harvest. What months in our calendar might have those names?
Now Try This
Make a list of our months and give each a name according to the weather or an important activity. Draw pictures to show what happens in each month.