Time of day, of course, was not expressed in any unit like our hour, but roughly by the position of the sun in its daily course overhead. Seven to nine positions were referred to descriptively in this respect plus early, mid, and late night.
Phases of the moon were most practical and were universally used as a longer measure of time. The succession of new moon cycles were named and an old man in the village customarily kept track of these by memory. As might be expected from this system, in which there was no recording, arguments ensued over just which moon or “month” was currently in effect. One full course of the moon’s phases takes just about a month, so the names for Indians’ moons corresponded nearly to our month names.
All local tribes recognized four seasons. These were identified by the positions of certain stars among mountain Maidu, but more generally by the positions of the rising sun with respect to a certain peak, tree, or similar fixed object. Some Indians kept track of the seasons by watching the daily progression of a beam of sunlight coming through the smoke hole of a house and falling upon its floor or wall. The shortest day of the year naturally was marked by the most southerly progression of the sun. This was noted by the Indians, no doubt with joy in the realization that longer days and, somewhat later, warmer weather were to be expected. The year started with the beginning of November when Indians of the Lassen area had left the high elevation hunting grounds on the flanks of Lassen Peak, had collected their stores of acorn and salmon, and were warmly settled in their winter quarters. Mountain Maidu seem to have used names for only the nine moons most important to them.
There was no calendar as such, but the number of days until a certain “big time” or other event was kept track of by either cutting off or untying one knot in a knotted cord or thong each day. Years were not recorded either, but were measured within the memory span as so many winters ago, or by relating time to some important event, such as a war which most persons might remember.
Directions were pointed out, or in speech were referred to as sunrise and sunset for east and west respectively. Directions were commonly given with respect to features of the local geography: in the direction of such and such a village or toward a named river, spring, or mountain which was conspicuous or generally known. We must remember that the territories of our local tribes were small and that the terrain was intimately known. Specific names were not only given to the conspicuous features of the topography, but among Atsugewi, at least, virtually every flat, every draw, and every hill was specifically named, and these names were known to all members of the tribe. Names of places in the territories of other tribes were not known by the local names of those tribes. They were either translated or given its own entirely different set of names by the first tribe. In other words, each tribe had different names for all places—a very confusing situation. Dixon reports that Maidu recognized directions as we know them, but that the northeast or mountain Maidu had five: west, northwest (the direction of Lassen Peak), north, east, and south.
Chapter XXX
CONCEPTS OF SUN, MOON, AND STARS
Mountain Maidu and Atsugewi believed the sun to be a female human—the wife—and the moon to be a male human—the husband. This is a reversal of the sex ascribed to these bodies by some other tribes. They believed that the figure of a frog was visible in the moon.
Atsugewi stated that Frog fought Moon and swallowed him and the next time that Moon swallowed Frog who is now in the center of the moon. When Moon and Frog fought, the former was not round, but crescent shaped. Yana stated that in the moon they could see Moon’s wife, Frog. Pine Marten snapped his evil father-in-law Moon into the sky by means of bending a springy tree ’way down and suddenly letting it go. He used the same system to snap Frog and her two daughters into the sky also.
To Atsugewi, as to most tribes, the phases of the moon: new, full, and waning, represented birth, life, and death—repeated every four weeks, although, of course, none of the Indians had the concept of a “week” such as we have. All through the year Atsugewi greeted the new moon. Old persons shook themselves, and their clothes and bedding in its presence. Younger folks ran and jumped toward the moon. If the points or horns of the new moon crescent were vertical it was a bad omen indicating sickness or death. Babies were shown the new moon, and in the case of both Atsugewi and mountain Maidu, babies’ faces and arms were rubbed in the new moonlight to make them grow fast. All local tribes addressed the moon aloud in friendly terms as if it were a personal relative. The Yana prayed to it. In contrast to Atsugewi reaction to vertical position of the two moon points, the Yana and mountain Maidu accepted this as meaning good fortune and good weather ahead. To these tribes horizontal position of the moon crescent in the winter sky denoted that it was full of water and indicated pending rains or storms. At other seasons both horns up foretold of death. Yana thought that both sun and moon were feminine.
After its daily trip across the sky, Atsugewi thought that the sun returned to the east in a blue cloud via the side of the earth. As the sun and the moon passed each other at the side of the earth, they decided on the weather for the following day. The moon supplied the cold and the sun the heat.