Onaabenii Giizis, the Ojibwe word for the traditional month corresponding to March, means “snow-crust moon” and is the origin of the title Moon of the Crusted Snow. Traditional Anishinaabe lands ranged from south of the Great Lakes and north into Ontario, Quebec, and Manitoba. The Ojibwe tribe, part of the larger Anishinaabe cultural group, and the tribe that Rice’s novel focuses on, was relocated far north to the reservation where the novel takes place. Here, the winters are harsh and long, lasting, according to Rice, for six months. The Snow-Crust Moon represents a time when spring is close at hand but still separated by many weeks of freeze and thaw, creating a “crust” of frozen snow atop the ground. This season represents a time of both hope and treachery, exemplified by stores of winter food running thin and the precarity of walking atop a snow crust that may give way at any point, as demonstrated by Evan’s and Nicole’s dreams.

Nicole’s dream depicts the snow crust as something treacherous, giving the appearance of safety while belying the danger underneath. Nicole recounts it as “the kind of snow that’s hard on top and real powdery underneath”; the crust is unable to support her weight, and she tells Evan, “I was falling deeper and deeper into the snow every time the crust broke.