Sunday 14 February 2016

Blackfoot Tribes

The Blackfoot Tribes are broken down into the Siskika, Kainai (blood), Peigan (Pikuni) and the North Peigan Pikuni. They lived in Montana and Idaho and as far up as Alberta Canada. They did start as one but then moved into four distinct/nations/tribes as such as the grew. They were all very similar with clothes, food and etc.
It's thought to be about 10,000 left in America and 15,000 Canada.

  • Skilled huntsmen, mainly buffalo. 
  • Due to big area/plains, they traveled a lot.
  • 1800 white man started hunting buffalo cause 600 Blackfoot starved to death. 
  • Nearly killed the Buffalo out.
  • All 4 shared the same language, called Algonquian.
  • 1800 white men brought horse making things very easier for the to travel meaning they could cover more land for hunting.
  • White man brought disease, like smallpox. That devastated the population. 
  • Strongly linked with supernatural powers.
  • The most important spiritual ceremony is the sun dance.
  • Known for mastering forms of art, like a basket, beading, even embroidery of clothes.
  • Grizzly bear paw was the worn by men high level of tribe.
  • They were difficult to get along with, they fought with many tribes, Cree, Crows, Flatheads, Kutenai and the Sioux. 
Legends; 
  • Old Man (also known by his Blackfoot name, Naapi, or spelling variants such as Napi, Napiw, etc.): Naapi is the culture hero of the Blackfoot tribe (sometimes referred to as a "transformer" by folklorists.) He is a trickster, a troublemaker, and sometimes a foolish person, but he is also responsible for the shaping of the world the Blackfeet live in and frequently helps the people. He is assisted in these tasks by his wife, Old Lady (Kipitaakii in Blackfoot). Naapi shares some similarities with other Algonquian heroes such as the Cree Wisakedjak, Wabanaki Glooscap, and Anishinabe Manabus, and many of the same stories are told in different Algonquian tribes with only the identity of the protagonist differing. Napi is pronounced similar to nah-pee, and Kipitaki is pronounced similar to kih-pih-tah-kee. 
  • Star Boy: A magical hero who is the son of a Blackfoot woman (Soatsaki, or Feather Woman) and the immortal Morning Star. After he and his mother are banished he is known as Poia instead, translated as "Scar-Face" in English (from the Blackfoot word payoo, "scar,") and after visiting the Sky Land his scar is healed and he gains the additional name of Mistaken-for-Morning-Star (because of his resemblance to Morning Star.) It was very common for Blackfoot people, especially boys and men, to take on new names several times in their life, so these name changes did not confuse Blackfoot listeners the way they confused some anthropologists! 




  • http://native-american-indian-facts.com/Great-Plains-American-Indian-Facts/Blackfoot-Indian-Facts.shtml
  • http://www.native-languages.org/blackfoot-legends.htm

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