Being a maritime culture created the necessity of the people of the Pacific Northwest to develop a spatial connection relative to their locale.  Not only was their physical location important but their temporal position required them to calculate, define and create spatial as well as temporal measurements.

The Coast Salish people not only created a calender, but a highly developed was of keeping time based on combined solar and lunar information.   The importance of this was not just survival, knowing the tides and time of day not only made travel easier but was imperative in their search for food.  This allowed them to keep track of not just the real world, but the mythological one as well.  The significance of this connection is seen in the naming of the weeks and months.   The Salish week has seven days, namely: Yeelahwahss'ehs (Monday), Sahmee'ehs, (Tuesday), Schainahw'ehs (Wednesday), Smohss (Thursday), Tskal'aytchay'ehs (Friday), Tsuhkwaht'ahm (Saturday), and Tskahhaht'ehnat (Sunday)   The twelve months of their calendar being named for moons, yet fallingon solar variations are: Skweetool'shehl'shehl (January, the Raven's moon), Lay'ahmshehl'shehl (February, the long necked loon's month), Kwohmkwohmshehl'shehl (March, the black cod moon), Nuhm'shehl'shehl, (April, the cod egg hatching moon), Sah'atchkyekwail'kwohlshehl'shehl (May, the salmon berry grows moon), Sah'atchkyeshehl'shehl (June, the ripening moon), Huhn'ohnshehl'shehl (July, the humpback salmon moon) Tahk'ahshehl'shehl (August, drying of berries moon), Tuhmhuhn'ohnshehl'shehl (September, humpback salmon enters the creek moon), Yah'nohkwuhshehl'shehl (October, the dog salmon moon), Kuhmeye'atshehl'shehl (November, the coho spawning moon), Nuhm'shehlshehl (December, has the same name as April because this was the month salmon was dried and the scappings of the scales looked like cod egg coverings). The coastal people also kept track of the phases of the moon and named them. (Fig.10) The moon being Shehl'shehl, the quarters being Suhk'shehl'shehl, thew full moon was Stuhaitchshehl'shehl or the  moon.   The Salish working year ends at winter solstice (21 December) only 355 days long.  The remaining ten days became the time of winter ceremonies, thus completing the solar year. This was determined through a number of calculations that were quite accurate. The lunar month was calculated by multiplying the number of tides per day and dividing by the number of weeks in the year, that being, 355 x 4 = 1420/ 52 = 27.3, (actual 27.322) virtually accurate.   Conversely, 27.322 x 52/ 4 = 355.186 days. Therefore, 355.186 + 10 (ceremonial days) x 24 (hours) /52 (weeks) /7 (days) = 24.078 hours or 355.186 x 24 +240 (ten days) /52/7 = 24.078197 x 10 = 10.032582 + 355.186 = 365.2185.  These are the calculations equal to length of day, and the accurate solar year.   In order to calculate the solstices, precise measurement and time keeping skills are imperative.

As the first people used the length of the lunar month to calculate the year, as with most things they did, there was a duality imparted in the factoring the solstices.   As described by F. Boas, (The Kwakuitl) the solar year was partitioned into two equal parts, summer and winter, and each season was divided into five equal months, with the solstices being of approximarely six weeks long.  As with the lunar year a method of homogeneous duality was employed in their calculations.   By dividing the solar year into measures of ocean tides, this meant that the two seasons equaled five months of 28 days, or 550 tides, with 88 days or 352 tides remaining.  These 88 days were then made into the two solstice periods, each of 44 days or 176 tides.  In (Fig. 18) there is a reference to these calculations.  The number 550

Fig.10 Shehl'shehl the moon, prominent in most coastal culture was an impotant factor in calculating tides, months and solstices

is represented by 5 x 110, the number 176 with 110 + 66, the number 5 in the points of each star and the numbers 88 and 44 in the points of the sun.  The calculations were so accurate, that they determined the corrected hours of the days, so as to even calculate the solar leap year.   Even though the first people kept astrometric measurement, a connection was made between their existing world and their temporal one, as can be seen in the naming of the months and the days.   As mentioned above, there was a homogeneous association between the lunar and solar year.  This connection was important as the lunar month and cycles controlled the tides creating ease of travel and access to spawning fish as well as a solar/lunar year directly associated with the natural world. Not only was the combined use of the of the lunar and solar aspects important in day to day life, this combined use made their time keeping extremely accurate.  This was an absolute requirement when navigating open ocean and in times of inclement weather.   If one counted only upon visual positioning to calculate one's distance from shore, likely one would be lost, as prevailing winds and tides however light, become exceptionally difficult to calculate on an open ocean.   The Haida and Nootka in particular, travelled great distances over open ocean on raiding and trading missions.   This would predispose the concept that the first people not only calculated their lattitude, but their longitude as well.  Calculations of this type require an accurate method of time keeping and measurement, a task Europeans couldn't muster until the 19th century.

The exact method they used is shrouded, however it is apparent that they did these complicated calculations in part by keeping track not only of the Sun's Seeay'uhk and Shehl'shehl the Moon's positon.  The moon was embodied in Puhk'uhl the golden eyed duck.   (Fig. 11) Shows the side of a square box, with a floating image of the raven, with the moon in its mouth.   Within the moon there is a figure of the head of the golden eyed duck and two positions of the moon, one being a full the other a quarter moon. This could be a representation of the month of January where within that month there was a full moon rising over a later quarter.   In (Fig.10) the moon is surrounded by 21 dots or points and the rays of light are portrayed with 18  complexes. It appears to be a reference to the lunar year, that being 21 x 24(hours)/18=28(days), the length of the lunar month.

Fig.11, Skweet'ool the Raven holds high rank in coastal cultures and was the main character in the creation of man. The significance of this design is unknown.