13 Moons 

Traditional Ecological Knowledge Systems, including those of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Cree, use the back of a turtle’s shell as a lunar calendar. There are 28 small plates around the edge of the turtle’s shell - one for each day in the lunar month. We can measure a lunar month in 28 days with the moon going around the earth in approximately 28 days. In one year (365 days), the moon goes around 13 times, giving us 13 lunar months with 28 days each. As well, there are 13 scutes or sections on the turtle’s back - one for each of the moons in the year. Names for the full moons are used to track the seasons.