tipehki kiilhswa (Moon)
Kristina Marks

What follows are recordings of student observations from kišiinkwia kiilhswa (July/August 2009) to cecaahkwa kiilhswa (April/May 2010).  Each student was asked to observe one feature (plant, tree, animal, celestial body, or weather phenomena) and its connections to other features.  In addition each student was asked to visually represent these connections by constructing a visual web.

niipinwi neehi teekwaaki (Summer and Fall)

I am observing the moon (tipehki kiilhswa).  It was hard for me to make many connections because it is not a tangible thing, and possibly because the moon cycle is off this year.

Tipehki kiilhswa, aciika, and aciika alaankwa rotate during the year, however, I could not always find them both in order to further elaborate.

Kiilhswa and tipehki kiilhswa began by being visible opposite one another (ie. the sun was up during the day and the moon after the sun set).  Recently tipehki kiilhswa has been rising and setting early, thus being visible at the same time as kiilhswa.  Often tipehki kiilhswa was directly across from kiilhswa.

The activity of moohswa rose during ayaapeensa kiilhswa.  After taking a closer look at my observations, I noticed I did not see any moohswa during waawiyiisita.  I did some research and discovered moohswa are more comfortable in areas where they have low visibility.  Waawiyiisita provides too much light for them to feel comfortable in open areas where they feed when the seasons change.  I also noticed more moohswa activity at night when kiilhswa and tipehki kiilhswa began overlapping earlier in the day.

Click here to see the complete web created by all the students as well as the translations for all of the words on the circle.

pipoonwi neehi miloohkami (Winter and Spring)

The biggest event that I have observed was the first thunderstorm of the year near the beginning of aanteekwa kiilhswa (middle of March).  Also around the thunderstorm, the temperature was fluctuating which corresponded with the rise and fall of animal activity.  Since this time, I’ve noticed the birds being both vocal and mobile, and the squirrels and deer have been more active.  The plants and trees have started budding, making the landscape greener.  Tipehki kiilhswa has been up at the same time as kiilhswa which makes locating its position in the sky difficult.

Near the beginning of aanteekwa kiilhswa, Colin noticed aciika neehi aciika alaankwa was prominent in the sky.  This corresponds to the first thunderstorm (ciinkwia) that was observed and what the class determined to be the breaking of spring. In talking to Matt, Scott, and Lauren, I noticed all of their trees began budding in aanteekwa kiilhswa.  Peesiaanikopa and aayoonseekaahkwi both began budding in the middle of the month, where as ahsenaamiši started to bud at the beginning of aanteekwa kiilhswa. While Matt and I were talking, we came up with the question about how tipehki kiilhswa effects the trees.  We know that it has an effect on large bodies of water, but we were curious about the effects on water within objects.