Turtle Moon
Most humans mark time using a calendar. Different kinds of calendars are used by different cultures. In the modern world there are around 40 calendars in use. The most recognized are the Chinese, Gregorian, Hindu, Indian, Jewish and Julian calendars. The three main types of calendars are the solar, lunar and the lunisolar. Solar calendars mark the time it takes planet Earth to orbit the sun, which is 365.25 days. The lunar calendar marks a year from the first new moon seen in the sky, to the last full moon seen. A solar calendar almost always has 12 full moons, but a lunar calendar will always have 13. The lunar year is the calendar that has been celebrated for thousands of years, dating back to the time before written history. Crazy as it sounds, turtles were an important part of how many cultures measured time
Stories about turtles come from many tribes. Turtles are sacred. That means Turtles are gods or come from gods. Each tribal group has its own stories about turtles and the early days of their people. Just like turtles, myths, legends and traditions surround the new year and the lunar cycle. Many indigenous people of North America tell stories that combine the lunar cycle and the turtle. Each tribal group tells the story with differences but all over the world, a turtle’s shell has been used for centuries to mark the passing of the lunar calendar. 13 Moons On A Turtle's Back is one of these stories.
The title of this ancient story talks about the shell of the turtle being used to track the lunar cycle. Look at a turtle’s shell. The top is called the carapace, which is made up of bony plates called scutes. If you look at it carefully, the center portion of the shell has large scutes and there are exactly 13 of them. Around the edge of the shell there are much smaller scutes. If you count them, there are almost always 28. There are 13 full moons in a year and 28 days between each full moon. Ancient people recognized this and turtle shells were hung on walls just like calendars. It amazes me that thousands of years ago someone figured this out.
Turtle shells were not only hung on the wall but it is said they were painted elaborately. Each month was given a name and that scute was painted with a scene that symbolized the month. The names of each lunar month are different depending on where the tribes lived, but they all represented what was happening in nature during that time of the year. For example, there is the snow moon, bear moon and leaves falling moon that are common names for a month. When said in their native language the names sound like music. Many tribes have shared their lunar calendar stories online. It was fun for me to learn that the Oneida calendar has a month called Breaking Ear Moon. It is called that because it is so cold outside that if your ears are not covered they might freeze and fall off. What 13 names would you give to the 13 moons?