Makes Branches Fall Into Pieces Moon: Piaôdagos is Here

The second moon of the Abenaki annual cycle is well underway, with the new cycle following the first (known as Alamikos) beginning a week ago, on January 21, 2023 here in Sokwakik. It is known as in Western Abenaki as Piaôdagos, meaning “makes branches fall into pieces”. The icy windstorms of this deep winter season provide the impetus for the shedding of dead or weak wood by the resting trees, a welcome source of fuel for warming fires. The full moon will walk across the glittering sky on February 5th and return to darkness and a new cycle on Feb. 20th of the Gregorian calendar.

The word is pronounced: pee ah OHN dah GOOS. The “ô”, sometimes written as “8”, is a nasal o, similar to the sound in “skunk”. Generally speaking, accents land on alternate syllables, with the final syllable setting the rythym and working backward.

Abenaki language keeper and teacher Jesse Bruchac explains the derivation a little: the morpheme “pia-” signifies the characteristics of “crumbly, mealy, powdery”; “-ôd” or “ôt” is a morpheme for “branch”; “a” is a connector; and “-gos” is a shortened form for “gizos”, “the moon”. Added together to make a complete concept, we have Piaôdagos (a rough cognate for “February”), the falling-in-pieces (crumbly) branches moon.

The days continue to grow a little longer as Grandfather Sun edges higher in the sky each successive day. Although we know there may be more snow and chill before the maple trees begin to lift their sweetness from the earth, this shedding and readying is our first sign that Sigwan, the spring, is returning from the south.