The Stories from Elders

Turtle Shell Calendar

 by Carole Blodgett 

Turtle represents many things to the First People of the America's, and Canada first because we call our homeland Turtle Island. Stories from the Northeast Woodland Nations (those in the New England and Great Lakes areas) tell us the turtle dove into the waters to get mud to make the earth. Mother Earth is often represented by the turtle symbol.

This story is written to tell you about using turtle as a calendar. The lunar calendar (moon cycle) was used by our ancestors. This calendar is still used today by many of the traditional people especially when planning ceremony. Why did we use the lunar calendar? The moon told us when to hunt, when to fish, when to plant, and when to harvest! Our lives were based on the movement of the moon. They did not have months called January; their months had names like Ripe Berries Moon and Big Snows Moon. Those who are coastal people or who live by rivers use the moon to tell when the tides come in and out. When the fish will swim upstream to spawn (have babies), Sturgeon Moon.

The Creator created Grandfather Sun (Wi), Grandmother Moon (Hun Wi) and Mother Earth (Ina Maka). He also created a calendar on the back of every turtle for us to use. You can use this pattern for making a turtle bean bag. Follow along with the diagram as you read to help you understand how to use the calendar found on the back of every turtle. You can see that the turtle shell has small and large sections on the shell. The large sections represent the 13 moons in one year. The smaller sections and the center large sections represent the 28 days in a lunar cycle now called a month.

As this picture shows, the face of Grandmother Moon changes during lunar cycle (month). Sometimes her face is a big yellow circle. Then it gets smaller. This is called waning, and continues until she becomes a half circle. She keeps waning until she becomes a crescent shape, like a smile or banana. Finally she gets so small she disappears - this is called the New Moon and is the start of the lunar cycle. The she starts to grow again; this is called waxing. Soon she is another crescent shape facing the other direction. She keeps growing until she is another big circle. It takes 28 days to go from New Moon back to New Moon. The Mayan calendars end in 2012 because her cycle is getting longer as the Earth Mother changes to heal herself. He cycle will no longer be 28 days, until she is finished healing herself. Then that 28 day cycle will return. The Mayan calendars restart in 2029. What do you think that means?


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