siOBX; - Smithsonian Institution

SWANTON] CHOCTAW SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL LIFE 45
In other words the Choctaw methods of reckoning time were essen-
tially the same as those of the Creeks and other southeastern tribes.
Cyrus Byington's Dictionary contains a list, or rather three lists,
of month names. He says of the months : " But few Choctaws know
all the names or know when the months come in or go out." I will
quote from my own discussion of these lists and the attempt to recon-
cile them which I incorporated into Byington's Dictionary as printed
in Bulletin 46 of the Bureau of American Ethnology.
At first he (Byington) inserted a list of mouth uames in alphabetical order
without stating whether they were obtained from one person or from several.
Later he obtained and recorded two others, one October 23, 1854, from
Ilapintabi, and the other December 31, 1856, from lyapali. Ilapintabi told him
that the year began in the latter part of September, while, according to
lyapali, it was in the latter part of March. Both of these statements are
reconciled by a subsequent note to the effect that the year was divided into
two series of six months each, a summer series and a winter series. From
the time when these are said to have begun, September 21 and March 21, it
is evident that the autumnal and vernal equinoxes were taken as starting
points. The list of mouths obtained from lyapali is in almost complete
agreement with the earliest list recorded by Byington, and therefore is prob-
ably more nearly correct than that of Ilapintabi. It is as follows:
March-April chafo cliito, from Jiohchdfo chito, " big famine."
April-May lidah koi'^chtish, "wildcat month."
May-Juue hash koicJiito, " panther month."
June-July hash mail (or niahali), "windy month."
July-August hash watullajc {or hash watonlak), "crane
month."
August-September tek i^hdshi, "women's month"?
September-October hash bihi, " mulberry month."
October-November hush bissa, " blackberry mouth."
November-December hdsk haf, perhaps hdsh kdfl, " sassafras month."
December-January hdsli takkon, " peach month."
January-February hdsh hoponi, " cooking month."
February-March chafiskono, from hohchdfo isMtini, " little famine."
No May-June month is given in the earliest list unless it is represented by
luak nwsholi, the specific application of which is not noted, and which appears
to have been questioned by Mr. Byington's later informants. Since, however, a
year of twelve strictly lunar months must be corrected at intervals to agree
with the solar year, the editor suggests that luak mosholi, which means "fire
extinguished," may have been applied to an intercalary month or period at the
beginning of the new year when the fires may have been extinguished and relighted,
although we do not know certainly that the Choctaw shared this custom
with the Creeks. Ilapintabi's list differs from that given only in inverting hdsh
koi"chush and hdsh koichito, and hdsh mali and hdsh watullak, the first be-
ing made to fall in May-June, the second in April-May, the third in July-
August, and the fourth in June-July. This latter inversion would seem to
correspond more nearly to the facts. May or early June being more likely to
be windy than late June or early July. But in fact the entire series of months
as recorded appears to have slipped out of place by at least one month, since
there seems no good reason for calling December-January the " peach month."
In the list of Creek months given by Swan February is called the "windy
month," May the "mulberry month," and June the "blackberry xnonth,'*