Smoke Signals 9
The Annual Calendar of The Atfa'lati Kalapuya Indians
NOVEMBER 15, 2002
By David Lewis
Grand Ronde Tribal member
In November and December of 1877, Albert S. Gatschet, a noted scholar
of Native American languages, was on the Grand Ronde Reservation and
at Dayton, Oregon interviewing Indian people. Gatschet interviewed
Clackamas, Molala, Sasti (Shasta), Athapaskan (Rogue River), and
Kalapuya Indians about their languages. I first learned of Gatschet when
conducting research at the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of Natural
History. I was with the Southwest Oregon Research Project II team in
Washington D.C. in 1998. I found that Gatschet was the first trained
linguist to transcribe Grand Ronde's Tribal languages.
While at the National Anthropological Archives, I re-discovered the an
nual calendar of the Atfa'lati Kalapuya Tribe, which Gatschet transcribed.
This was a revelation, as I did not know that the Kalapuya intellectual
traditions, such as the calendar, had been preserved. In all, Gatschet cre
ated about 14 manuscripts from his conversations with the Indians from
Grand Ronde. Much of his work is published in Kalapuya Texts, which is a
compilation of field research transcriptions from Leo J. Frachtenberg, Albert
S. Gatschet, and Melville Jacobs, who was also the editor. (Note: Atfa'lati is
the original word from which the Tualatin place-name originates).
The calendar is a special and uniquely Kalapuya cultural intellectual
icon deserving of being re-inscribed into Tribal cultural traditions. The
cultural information of the calendar, presents information on different
stages of the camass harvest, wapato harvest, and the harsh winter living
conditions that probably meant that food needed to be stored for this time.
The planned harvest of vegetal foods, combined with landscape changes
(like seasonal burning, replanting of seeds and annually returning to spe
cific fields) represent Kalapuya agriculture.
The changes to the calendar allow us a window into the changes hap
pening to the Kalapuya in the 19th century from large Canadian and Ameri
can populations settling in the Willamette Valley. Their original calendar,
as Gatschet states in his notes, was a six-month calendar because they
"did not notice" the summer months, probably because food was not as
much of a problem in the summer. With more non-Natives settling in the
valley, the Kalapuya people became subject to American acculturation
through Methodist and Catholic missions, and through the Federal
government's boarding and day schools. At these institutions, Kalapuyas
were re-trained in American agricultural methods and Euro-American
Gregorian time. In the Euro-American style of intensive agriculture, that
uses plants highly sensitive to temperature changes, there is a greater
need for attention to be paid to summer weather.
The altered time frame, with the beginning of the year in the Gregorian
autumn, is interesting and shows us the value of this calendar and how
well it fits the unique western Oregon climate. In the calendar, the "first
spring," Aatcha'-uyu, appears to be about the time of the end of April.
While the end of the summer, August, is the end of the Kalapuya year,
the month of Aku'piu. Anyone who has dug camass knows that it is diffi
cult finding the roots without the blossoms to mark their locations. When
the Kalapuya dug camass outside of the blossom period, April-May, they
knew exactly where the roots were hidden underground as they had been
harvesting in the same location for many generations.
Gatschet presents us a window into the Kalapuya culture through this
calendar. How accurate it is depends on his intentions for doing this re
search over 100 years ago. Today, we can only speculate as to Gatschet's
intentions. Gatschet was an extremely learned man, who traveled exten
sively in South and North America and worked among Indian Tribes wher
ever he traveled. He is know to have worked extensively on Klamath,
Cherokee, Choctaw, and Seneca and was fluent in German, French, En
glish, and Spanish. His scholarly range was vast and at the end of his life
he was working on learning Cantonese. My understanding of the calen
dar, after reading extensively of Gatschet's correspondence, is that the
calendar is cultural icon relatively unaltered in Gatschet's transcription.
My hope is that through further research and dialogue with Tribal Elders
that more information about the calendar will become available.
Transcription:
Divisions of Time Among The Atfa'lati Tribe of The Kalapuya Indians of
Northwestern Oregon
Their hinations (ato'b) begin with the new moon (wapa'l ato'b) the first quarter of the m oon is: ye'dsh to'kaloi ato'b; the full moon kopinfu ato'b;
the third quarter: tcha'shtu ato'b. The year, ami'dshu, begins in autumn. The earlier Kalapuyas did not notice the summer months and hence had
only six months in the year, but presently they have twelve.
1st month: atchi utchu'tin; after harvest the Indians are still out.
2nd month: atcha'lan kuaik; commencing to get the sagittaria-
root from the lake (ma'mptu); Gaston Lake, Oregon.
3rd month: ala'ngitapi; they go to the houses for winter season.
4th month: adsha'mpak "good (month)"; not bad weather.
5th month: a'talka (ato'b); they stay all day in the winter houses.
6th month: atchi'ulantadsh "out of provisions"; some hunt, some starve.
7th month: aatcha'-uyu: first spring; women dry camass-root.
8th month: ama'nta kita'ntal: pounding the (cooked) camass.
9th month: ata'ntal: about may camass begins to blossom.
10th month: ani'shnalyu: camass is now ripe.
11th month: ame'ku, or wayo'yu ame'ku: midst of summer.
12th month: Aku'piu end of summer, August.
The Albert Gatschet manuscript "Divisions of Time among the Atfa'lati
tribe of the Kalapuya Indians, Northwestern Oregon," is Gatschet 1385 in
series 1 of the Southwest Oregon Research Project Collection. Grand Ronde
received complete copies of series 1, 2 and 8 in 1998 and 2002 as gifts from
the two Coquille Potlatches at the University of Oregon. Seventeen other
Oregon regional Tribes also received portions of the collection in these pot
latches. The original manuscript is at the Smithsonian Institution's Na
tional Anthropological Archives in Washington, D. C.
David G. Lewis is a Grand Ronde Tribal member and the coordinator of
the SWORP archival collection at the University of Oregon's, Knight Li
brary Special Collections. An index to the collection "Southwest Oregon
Research Project: Inventory to the Archival Collection," was written and
edited by David in 2001 and published by the University of Oregon.
David coordinated the project to make 18 copies of the collection follow
ing the 2001 Coquille Potlatch and is currently in a Ph.D. program in
Anthropology at the University of Oregon under the support of the Grand
Ronde Tribe's full-time Higher Education Scholarship. Copies of the
Gatschet manuscripts, as well as other SWORP manuscripts may be or
dered from Special Collections, Knight Library of the University of Oregon
541-346-3068. Copies of the calendar will be sent to anyone who requests
them from Mr. Lewis, coyotezoregon.uoregon.edu, or 541-346-5525. B
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A An annual calendar of the Atfa'lati Kalapuya transcribed by
Albert S. Gatschet, a noted scholar of Native American languages.
Photo of calendar courtesy of David Lewis