Time was measured by nature, by day, by night, by seasons.

Time was a relationship between events rather than an inflexible measure.

When she was young, a woman would begin marking the important events in her life by tying knots or beads into hemp string that she rolled into a counting ball.

When she was very old, she could pick up one of her lifetime histories and tell that certain knots represented the time she was married, when she moved with her family, when her children were born, or when she became a grandmother.

Many grandmothers and many counting balls are buried in our valley.

Time Ball (Ititamat) created by Vivian Harrison.

Information provided by the Yakama Nation Museum, Marilyn Skahan-Malatare, Curator.

Notes from the restoration of Millennium Plaza, 2023: 
The original time ball was stolen from the plaza and replaced with a replica in 2023.