April 2013
Volume 47 Issue 4
sw d bš qyuuqs
utixdx c d ti swatix t d “Let’s take care of Earth.”
pedHiWaac (pud-hway-WAHTS) Moon of the Whistling Robins
“Much of April is the ‘Moon of the Whistling Robins,’ signaling the actual music of springtime. Herring and smelt continue to be harvested. At beach sites, shellfish such as mussels, cockles, oysters, horse, butter and littleneck steamer clams are harvested. Some clams are eaten fresh, but most are cure for winter by first steaming on top of hot rocks in a sand pit, stringing the meat on cedar bark ropes and smoking or drying hard. Canoes are build and baskets, both waterproof and open, are woven and dyed. Many types of plants are collected such as the tender young shoots of salmonberry and trailing blackberry. The roots of bracken ferns are dug up, baked, dried and then pounded into a flour to be stored in baskets. Flatfish, halibut, lingcod and rockfish are all fished during this moon. Two pronged spears are used to catch lingcod and rockfish. Halibut are caught using a line attached to a V-shaped hook made of bent hemlock, then cooked by placing hot stones in watertight baskets or cut into strips to be dried. Spring Chinook begin to run this moon.”— 13 Moons: The 13 Lunar Phases, And How They Guide the Swinomish People. S.I.T.C