Maple Moon

For hundreds of years before the first Europeans arrived, the Cayuga band of the Haudenosaunee (the "People of the Longhouse," also known as the Iroquois) built their timber longhouses in the area of upstate New York where I live. According to the 2000 census, more than 80,000 people in the United States are descendants of these First People.

The Haudenosaunee divide the year into lunar months, each with a name that describes an important seasonal event. Last week's full moon is known as the Maple Moon, the time when the sap starts to flow again in the maple trees after the long winter of dormancy, and maple syrup and maple sugar production begins.

That poetic name for the March full moon provided a starting point for a story that I wrote in Zee's Writing Circle, which I mentioned in my previous post. The "spark" for that particular Circle was a rainbow of Pantone color samples that Zee spread out on a table. I chose:

Nile Blue

Coral

Mimosa

(Can you see those colors in the opening photo I took of the March sunset? It was probably not coincidental that I was drawn to those particular hues.)

Zee has just started posting stories written in Circle at her online literary journal, "Painted Parrot." I hope you'll visit every Friday when she posts a new story, or perhaps even subscribe to get a story in your inbox every week. You can read my Maple Moon story by clicking here.