Pebonkas: Winter Maker Moon

Reposted from Sokoki Sojourn, post by Rich Holschuh

First posted Dec. 11, 2019

The full moon shines now, as of last night (Dec. 29, 2020), in the last month of the solar year. It is the middle of the final lunar cycle that began with the new moon on December 14 and which will renew on January 13, 2021 (by today’s Gregorian calendar). We have noticeably passed from Tagwôgwo, the Autumn season, into Pebon, the Winter.

The last full moon of the Western Abenaki solar year is the Winter Maker, Pebonkas, following the preceding month of  Mzatanos, the Freezing Current Maker. Another name for this moon is Kchikizos, the Great Moon. Within this cycle, the shortest day and the longest night of the year approached on the Winter Solstice, on December 21st. Bare trees are silhouetted against the crystal blackness as Nanibosad or Nanipôssat, the all-night walker, crosses the sky world in all her glory.

The name of the moon is a combination of simple roots: “pebon” which signifies “winter” combined with “k-a-s” as an abbreviated form for “maker” and “moon” together. It is pronounced PEH-buhn-kahs, the Winter Maker Moon. The alternate name, Kchikizos, is a combination of the two words “kchi” for “great” and “kizos” for the “full moon.” It is pronounced kih-TSEE-kee-zoos, the Great Moon.

As the Solstice marks the reversing of the sun’s path, the daylight very slowly begins to grow in length – the beginning of the new year. The winter weather, however, continues to grow colder, due to the delay caused by the earth’s thermal mass. It continues to lose the heat it soaked up in summer, until the sun’s rays become strong enough to counter the loss with life-affirming Spring. In the cold and dark, stories are told around the fire as a reminder of how everything changes, over and over. And as this cycle ends, another begins.