Choctaw Calendar

Title

Choctaw Calendar

Creator

Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma See all items with this value

Date

2009-2016

annotates

A Choctaw year, or calendar, is divided into a warm season, Toffa, and a cool season, Hvshtula. These seasons are separated by the spring and fall equinoxes and are traditionally divided into 13 months, hvishi (month and sun).

The Choctaw New Year was in the fall, when Choctaw people were created, on the first full moon after the fall equinox, which today is sometime around September 21-24. Resources provided several versions in the nineteenth century, and eventually the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma adopted the same calendar to avoid versioning in 2012. The following presents the Iti Fabvssa articles with a brief summary. Each discussion contains a wealth of information about life, foodways, shelter, hunting, farming, and activities.

Little Hunger Month

Chafo Iskitini Hvshi = Little Hunger Month (roughly September into early October)
Hvshtula = Reclining sun, represents the cooler months
After the harvest and before the first frost. Although food was abundant in the period after harvest, this was the time of preparing for winter hunting expeditions. Time for preparing hunting tools, spiritual purification; yaupon was gathered for this purpose. Winter anuka lashpa (“hot inside”) houses were repaired and prepared for the coming cold.

Big Hunger Month

Hohchafo Chito Hvshi = Big Hunger Month (November, roughly beginning around the time of the first frost.)
Time of the Feast of the Dead and the Big Hunt. Canoes, and then horses, were used to transport families who returned with dried meat, skins, and other provisions.

Panther Month

Koi chito Hvshi = Panther Month (December, the coldest time of the year after the winter equinox.)
Okti Abeha in Mississippi translates to Blocks of Ice Therein, possibly originating from ice forming in the river. The coldest months are when pelts are at their prime, but southern mammals never grow very thick pelts. Temporary camps were established near cane breaks where bear, panther, bison, and deer could be easily found. Also, a time for collecting salt from springs.

Wildcat Month

Koichush Hvshi = Wildcat Month (January, or really the coldest part of the winter.)
This is when hunting and trapping for pelts mainly occurred, and activities were similar to Koi chito Hvishi (Panther Month). This was also the time for collecting river cane since camps were near prime hunting grounds. Arundinaria tecta (switch cane) was used for arrows whereas Arundinaria gigantea is used for basketry. Cane debris was thrown up on structures to insulate and waterproof the roofs. Dyes for basketry were produced from many sources, but walnuts produce brown and black colors, yellow could come from multiple sources, but mulberry roots are one source.

Crane Month

Watonlak Hvshi = Crane Month (February, when flocks of migrating birds moved through the Choctaw homeland.)
Noted species include ducks, geese, bustard, and passenger pigeons. Pigeons were particularly easy to “harvest” as they roosted in massive flocks in trees and could easily be knocked out (Silver 2009). Pachanusi = Where the Pigeons Sleep, is a named village. There was a lake with Canadian geese, Hanka Aiola = Where the Canadian Goose Cries. This is the time of year when fields were prepared, clearing brush was accomplished with fire = bvilli, using fire to clear.

Windy Month

Mahli Hvshi = Windy Month (roughly March)
March is when Choctaw set fire to landscapes. Fires in late winter encourage forb growth, later in spring encourages grasses, and summer fires can cause long-term plant damage. Encouraging grasses brings in grazing animals, fire promotes cane growth, it destroys insects, etc. Fire was used on average every three years.

Women's Month

Tek Ihvshi = Women’s Month (April, but really the first new moon after the spring equinox.) Ceremonial Hasi Atahli Holitobli occurred, time for preparing the house fields = chuka osapa. Digging sticks and hoes of shell or bone were used to clear areas in concentric circles, working outwards.

Mulberry Month

Bihi Hvshi = Mulberry Month (Generally May)
May is when many fruits begin to ripen, the earliest being the mulberry (bihi), as well as blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, wild plums. Fruit trees grew in fallow fields which created orchards near villages, although planned orchards were planted as well. Mulberry bark was stripped as well for making thread, and bison who were shedding collected their rubbed off hair for thread as well during this season. The communal fields were planted at this time. Mentions putting a clay cap on top of each corn hill, which prevented erosion, but would be interesting to see this archaeologically. Fields with melons, squash, and pumpkins were planted and elevated platforms for crow watcher (fvla atoni) were set up.

Blackberry Month

Bissa Hvshi = Blackberry Month (June, or the summer solstice.)
This is when blackberries and plums are at their peaks, followed by huckleberries and maypops. This is the time when corn fields are weeded through hoeing for a second time and then beans are planted along the edges of the corn rows, then winter squash and sunflowers along the edges of the fields. Children hunted small mammals that might eat or damage crops. Squirrel land, Fvni Yakno, was an area covering 20 miles east of Philadelphia, Mississippi that might be visited during bissa hvshi. The Green Corn, Luak Musholi (fires extinguished) Ceremony took place. This was also the prime season for war, although rare, and stickball.

Sassafras Month

Kafi Hvshi = Sassafras Month (July.)
The peak of the hot season, rainy, lots of insects, and when a tea was made from sassafras leaves to cool the blood. Corn crops were hoed for the third, and final, time during this season, known as hopochi. This was also the time, generally, when roasting ears could be collected. Fishing was a summer activity, caught in a variety of ways depending on the habitats present at a given location. Fish might be baked in clay or smoked and dried. This was also the season for chestnut collecting.

Peach Month

Takkon Hvshi = Peach Month (Roughly August)
Peaches were introduced into the Choctaw foodway by the Spanish in the sixteenth century. But may also have roots in the native plums, and in late summer both are ready for picking. In August through September, crabapples, and grapes could be collected and corn is in the roasting stage.

Cooking Month

Hoponi Hvshi = Cooking Month (September.)
This is the season of harvesting and the name refers to the need to cook and eat up any leftovers to make room for the new harvest. Men held the Ripe Corn dance which lasted for four days and included feasting. Corn could be dried in the sun or covered over with clay and grass. Corn cribs measured 8-x-10 ft and were raised off the ground but contained other subsistence stores aside from corn, as the name belies. Bags of corn were laid down first, followed by beans, bags of raisins, and parched nuts.

Subject

Indigenous Knowledge See all items with this value

Foodways See all items with this value

Hunting See all items with this value

Architecture See all items with this value

Material Culture See all items with this value

Chahta Culture See all items with this value

Chahta (Choctaw) See all items with this value

Clothing See all items with this value

Projectile See all items with this value

Stickball See all items with this value

Relations See all items with this value

Ceremonies See all items with this value

Temporal Coverage

18th Century See all items with this value