The Yeneseisk Ostiaks:—1, summer month, about May; 2, not translated; 3, month when the ducks moult; 4, month when the garrot moults; 5, month in which the njelma is caught with great nets; 6, month in which the willow loses its foliage; 7, winter month; 8, month in which the earth freezes; 9, reindeer-rutting month; 10, little month; 11, great month; 12, eagle month; 13, squirrel month, in which the striped squirrel comes out of its nest. The Yeneseisk Ostiaks of the Sym are said to count only seven winter months, not the summer months. They are:—1, month in which the earth freezes; 2, reindeer-rutting month; 3, the little, 4, the great month; 5, eagle month; 6, squirrel month; 7, spawning month, in which the pike spawns. Another list gives:—1, fall-of-the-leaf month; 2, month in which the earth begins to freeze; 3, dog month, in which the dogs pair; 4, the little, 5, the great month; 6, eagle month; 7, squirrel month; 8, spawning month; 9, month in which the Ostiaks set traps to catch sturgeon; 10, summer month, when the grass becomes green; 11, middle-of-summer month; 12, month in which the grass turns yellow, or month of the white grass-tips; 13, autumn month.
The Tatars of the Minusinsk district of the Yeneseisk government:—1, the mild, easy month, or forest-month, since the people go hunting, about September; 2, little cold; 3, great cold; 4, the mottled month, bald patches of earth appear among the snow; 5, severe cold; 6, high, when the sun moves high above the horizon; 7, when the birds fly out in spring; 8, they (i. e. the days) increase; 9, the red month; 10, (perhaps) little drought; 11, birch-bark month, when birch-bark is collected; 12, grass month; 13, harvest month. There are also some variants which are not translated.
The Karagasses, who live next to the Minusinsk Tatars:—1, 1/5–4/6, month of the low grass; 2, 4/6–2/7, birch-bark month, in which birch-bark is collected, this being used for the summer houses; 3, 2/7–30/7, month in which the lily-bulb is red, i. e. blossoms; 4, 30/7–27/8, month in which the lily-bulb is dug up; 5, 27/8–24/9, hammer month, when the cedar is tapped with the hammer in order to shake down the ripe cones with the nuts; 6, 24/9–22/10, reindeer-buck rutting month; 7, 22/10–19/11, sable month, when people begin to trap sables; 8, 19/11–17/12, month of the long rest, such as is taken during the short days; 9, 17/12–15/1, month of frost; 10, 15/1–12/2, great frost-month; 11, 12/2–12/3, snow-shoe month, when over the deep but rotting snow deer and elks are hunted in snow-shoes; 12, 12/3–9/4, month when the snow becomes sticky; 13, 3/4–7/5, month in which people hunt with dogs; this is the time when, owing to the night-frosts, a crust forms on the snow, which is not strong enough to bear deer and elks. The dates given by the author can at most be applied only to one definite year.
The Buriats, from the new year:—1, month in which the brooks freeze; 2, when the winter stores are seen to; 3, roe moon; 4, deer moon; 5, sheep moon; 6, when the ice breaks; 7, spring moon; 8, grass moon; 9, bulb moon; 10, milk moon; 11, milch moon; 12, when after-math comes; 13, when it ripens; the first month is also called the white month. The Nishne-Udinsk Buriats:—1, roe month, since in this month horns grow on the roe; 2, deer month, when the deer is caught; 3, ram month, when the sheep pair; 4, month of the red ridge of land, when the snow melts and the mountains become red; 5, fish-spawning month; 6, leek month; 7, the wild month, so called on account of the fierce heat; 8, roe month, when the roes pair; 9, deer month, when the deer pair; 10, squirrel month, since this animal is then caught; 11, the little sable month, sables are caught; 12, nest month, since the animals, on account of the cold, creep into their dens and nests. Only twelve months, therefore, as also among the Tunkinsk Buriats, for whom are translated only:—1, the white month; 2, the red mountain-ridge; 5, the wild month; 11, roe month; 12, deer month.
The year of the Tunguses is divided into summer and winter. The names of the months are:—Summer: 1, ilaga (fly, gnat), in this the leaves and the early blossoms come out; 2, ilkun, is the proper flowering moon; 3, irin (from irim, to ripen), the wild fruit grows ripe; 4, serula sanni (perhaps sonnaja, cervical vertebra), in this month the red deer pair; 5, hukterbi, brings the red deer new hair. Winter: 1, okti (perhaps okto, road), when the first snow falls: immediately after that the minever is good; 2, mira (shoulder-joint), has the shortest days; 3, giraun (suggests giramda, bone), has days of noticeably increasing length; 4, okton kira (time of the road), when the sables are covered; 5, tura (perhaps turaki, jackdaw), when the cormorants come; 6, schonka, when the ice becomes porous; 7, the beginning of the tukun, in which the rivers become clear: the last part of this period belongs to the summer year. Our informant, Georgi, speaks of thirteen months, but only gives the above twelve names. Schiefner conjectures that he has counted tukun twice, or else has run two months together. For the Tunguses of the Sea of Okhotsk only twelve months are enumerated, and of these are translated:—1, grass month; 3, fish-and-horse month; 4, ripening month (?); 5, wrist; 6, elbow; 7, shoulder-joint; 8, atlas; nos. 5 to 11 are named from the joints of the human frame, 5–8 following out a suggestion of an ascending, 9–11 that of a descending order; the name of the twelfth month perhaps means the back. This is only one method of reckoning: a hint of it is already found in the preceding list. For the Tunguses of the lower Amur twelve months are reported, of which nos. 7–10 are simply numbered and the other names are not explained.
Another traveller could only discover eleven months among the Tunguses of the Amur, possibly only because of the defective memory of his informants. But a year of eleven months is said to exist among the Samoyedes of Yurak. The months are:—1, month of leaf-fall, about August; 2, reindeer-rutting month; 3, the dark month; 4, sand month, when the winds drive the snow along like sand; 5, the calm month, no storms; 6, the good month, the weather is favourable for trapping animals; 7, eagle month; 8, geese month or month of calves; 9, month of inundations; 10, spring month, literally wuenui-jiry, wuenui is said of fish when they come up-stream in great shoals; 11, the great month, since the days (or the month) are very long.
The Ostiak Samoyedes have 12 months:—1, leaf-fall month, about August; 2, month with the long days, or month when the earth freezes; 3, month of the short days; 4, tax month, month when the tax (i. e. the deer) is caught, or thumb month, since the women, on account of the shortness of the days, can make only the thumb of a glove; 5, mid-winter month; 6, month of crows, the crows come; 7, eagle month; 8, month in which the summer animals arrive; 9, month in which the fish spawn; 10, month in which there is water in the little brooks; 11, month in which fish are dried; 12, njelma-month. Another list of Samoyede months from the Bolshemelsk tundra runs, beginning at our New Year:—1, middle month, or the cold breaks an axe, must doubtless be ‘axe-handle month’, the axe-handle splits with the cold; 2, month of return, when the sun has turned back to summer, or hornless month; 3, eagle month; 4, fish month, when people begin to fish in the lakes; 5, month of calves, in which the reindeer-does calve; 6, geese month, the geese begin to moult during the latter days of this month; 7, fledged month, the geese after moulting are again in a condition to use their wings; 8, maliz month, when the skins obtained from the reindeer are turned into malizes (an undergarment), or the reindeer rub the velvet off their horns; 9, reindeer-rutting month, or sea-fish month, from the catching of the omulj; 10, hunting month; 11, the first dark month, in which in the far north the sun does not rise; 12, the great month of darkness.
Further, the Yakuts have only twelve months:—1, spawning month; 2, month of pines, the people collect pine-bark which is afterwards dried and ground into meal; 3, grass month; 4, hay-fork month, or the fourth month; 5–10 numbered; 11, the month in which the foals are shut up in the day-time and are kept from the mares, so that the latter can be milked; 12, month in which the ice floats away.
So also the Itälmen of Kamchatka:—Summer year, beginning in May: 1, wood-cock month, from the arrival of the wood-cock; 2, cuckoo month; 3, summer month; 4, moonlight month, since people begin to fish in the moonlight; 5, leaves and plants begin to wither and fall away; 6, titmouse month, the porus-titmouse appears. The winter year begins with:—7, nettle month, the nettles are gathered and hung up to dry; 8, ‘I am rather cold’; 9, ‘touch me not’: it is considered a crime to drink in this month from springs and brooks with the mouth or with hollow sticks: it must be done with great wooden spoons or with shells; 10, ladder month, the ladder leading to the balagans becomes very brittle owing to the cold; 11, vent-hole month, since the snow around the vent-hole thaws and the earth again appears; 12, water-wagtail month, when these birds arrive. Two other lists for Kamchatka contain only ten months. Near the Kamchatka River the names are:—1, sin-purifying month; 2, axe-handles break owing to the frost; 3, beginning of the heat (sic!); 4, the day becomes long; 5, month of the snow-crust; 6, redfish month; 7, whitefish month; 8, kaiko-fish month; 9, the great whitefish month; 10, month of the falling leaves, said to last as long as three of our months. Among the northern Kamchadales the names are:—1, month of the freezing of the rivers; 2, hunting month; 3, sin-purifying month; 4, axe-handles burst; 5, time of the long day; 6, birth-time of the sea-beavers; 7, birth-time of the seals; 8, birth-time of the tame reindeer; 9, birth-time of the wild reindeer; 10, beginning of the fishing. The winter year begins in November, the summer year in May.
For the Gilyaks two lists are given, each with twelve months. That for the Amur estuary has two or three variants for some months. The following are translated:—1, month in which a kind of salmon spawns (?), or harpoon month (?); 2, month in which another species of salmon is caught; 3, little month; 4, great month, or month in which another kind of salmon is caught; 5, moulting-month; 6, half-year month (?); 8, year month; 9, eagle month; 10, snow-shovel month. On the island of Sachalin:—3, fish-and-squirrel month; 4, little month; 5, great month; 10, eagle month; 11, snow-shovel month.