Months of the Lakota Year as told to Rev Peter Rosen

Months of The Lakota Year
As Told to Rev. Peter Rosen
Edited by Dakota Wind
Rev. Peter Rosen was a Catholic missionary for seven years in the Black Hills beginning with his first placement at St. Andrew’s Parrish in Deadwood, Dakota Territory, 1882. Rosen collected any writing he could to acquaint himself with the Black Hills. He collected newspapers, books, copies of government records, church records including the manuscripts of Fr. Pierre DeSmet, and oral stories on his many various trips in and around the ‘Hills.

In 1895, Rosen published Pa-ha-sa-pah, or, The Black Hills of South Dakota: A Complete History. It was a series of six books published as one volume, with the first three focusing on the indigenous occupation of the Black Hills, their mythologies, and long associations with the ‘Hills.

Amongst Rosen’s work is a collection of Lakȟóta names for the twelve months of the year. The Lakȟóta employ a thirteen-month lunar calendar, not a twelve-month astrological one. Rosen recording offers readers a glimpse of both Lakȟóta and Dakhóta names for the times of year, with a few variant names. These month names have been re-written using the Standard Lakota Orthography which was developed by the Lakota Language Consortium; some of these month names appear in the LLC’s New Lakota Dictionary.

January

Theȟí Wí (Difficult Moon)

February

Wičhítegleǧa Wí (Racoon Moon)

March

Ištáwičhayazaŋ Wí (Sore Eye Moon)

April

Maǧáokada Wí (Moon When Geese Lay Their Eggs)
Watópȟapi Wí (Moon When They Paddle Their Canoes)

May

Wóžupi Wí (The Planting Moon)

June

Wažúštečaša Wí (Ripe Strawberry Moon)

July

Čhaŋpȟásapa Wí (Ripe Chokecherry Moon)
Wašúŋpȟa Wí (When The Geese Shed Their Feathers Moon)

August

Wasútȟuŋ Wí (Moon When Things Ripen)

September

Psiŋ’hnáketu Wí (Moon When They Lay Up Rice [To Dry])

October

Wážupi Wí (Drying Rice Moon)

November

Thakíyuȟa Wí (Deer Rutting Moon)

December

Tȟahékapšuŋ Wí (Moon When Deer Shed Their Horns)