ARTS AND CRAFTS

 Blackfoot women would usually make and design jewelry and clothing in the winter when they had more time on their hands are known for their fine quill embroidery and beadwork.

King Kunga was a full-time professional Blackfeet artist from Montana whose art is seen internationally. He worked in watercolors, oils, bronze, steel, silver and gold. King’s art reflected his dedication to Native American people and their spirituality. King earned a bachelor degree of fine arts at the University of Montana, Missoula, studying mainly painting and sculpture.

Mari King

The Blackfeet artist Mari King was born in Seattle and lives now on the Blackfeet reservation in East Glacier Park. Mari received an Associates of Science degree in Human Services, and a Bachelors of Science degree in Criminal Justice, followed by a Master of Human Services degree as a Counseling Psychologist from the University of Montana in Great Falls. Her formal education includes many hours spent in drawing, oil painting, photography, sculpting and silkscreen. Her art is entered into juried art shows, on previous display at the Indian Art Museum in Santa Fe, NM, the Seattle Indian Center, the Museum of the Plains Indian and the Blackfeet Community College in Browning. Mari paints in oil, acrylic and pastel.

                                               Shelter

•The Blackfoot lived in buffalo-hide houses called tipis (or teepees).
•The teepee’s were usually 14ft in diameter and weighed 100 lbs.
•The teepee’s were sometimes painted with designs that have religious significance .
•Since the black foot moved frequently to follow the buffalo herds, a teepee was carefully designed to setup and breakdown quickly, a job primarily for women.
•An entire Blackfoot village could be packed up and moved within an hour.
•Prairie breezes blowing under the teepee covering were deflected by the back wall, this created and “up draft” over the centrally located cooking and heating fire.
•Back walls were often painted with geometric designs to differentiate the different families

FOOD

The Blackfoot staple food was buffalo. They developed a complex society based upon the buffalo. >meat = food. Skin=clothing, tepee covers. Bones= needles, utensils. Horns= spoons. Rawhide= bags.In addition to buffalo meat, the Blackfoot Indians also ate small game like squirrels, nuts and berries.  

TRAVELING 

The tribe heavily relied on a piece of equipment called the travois for the movement of their belongings. Especially to move the buffalos after they have been captured and killed. Before horses they used dogs to pull there belongings.

BLACKFOOT HUNTING TRADITIONS

 Blackfoot men usually hunted the buffalo by driving them off cliffs or stalking them with bow and arrow. As they acquired horses, the Blackfoot tribe began to pursue the buffalo by moving their camp to follow the buffalo migration habits.

BLACKFOOT WEAPONS AND TOOLS

Arrow heads

Arrowheads are found in many sizes, shapes, materials and colors’ based on the culture. The typical arrowhead is strong and not brittle so that it can puncture the targets skin.

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knife

The knife was a very useful tool used for cutting meat, hides, and food.  It could also be a weapon for close range fights.  A knife was a weapon, tool and eating and cooking utensil all in one.  An Indian could use it to put up dwelling, mend moccasins and clothing, make arrows, skin animals, clean fish, build traps, scrape hides and much more.

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maul

The maul was made from river rocks.  It was grooved for hafting onto a handle and used like an ax.  It is different from an ax, because it has a blunt or rounded end. The round end inflicts a blunt hit on the target to knock it out or put it in a daze long enough to safely capture the prey.

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Shaft Straightener

A shaft straightener is used to straighten the shaft of the arrow. It can be used to straighten out the shaft of the arrow which is made out of wild cherry, birch, ash, and chokecherry or willow trees, Which is a very durable wood so that the shafts won’t break as easy.

BLACKFOOT CLOTHING 

Blackfoot Indian clothing was made from material that was easily available, mostly deer skin and antelope hide. Women wore long deer skin dresses with fringes. They also made all the clothes in the tribe. They decorated all the clothes beautifully with beads, porcupine quills and feathers. They also wore bracelets and earrings made from seashells. Occasionally, they used different metals to make jewelry. Beads were also worn around their necks or in their hair.
The Blackfoot Indian clothing for men consisted of leggings that were worn up to the hips. Their footwear was moccasins and they also wore loin cloths. Men secured a belt around their hips which held up their leggings. They wore robes made from buffalo hide most of the time, and occasionally they would wear buckskin shirts. Men who had distinguished themselves as brave warriors would wear a necklace of grizzly bear claws.
Blackfoot Indian clothing for children, especially the boys, resembled the adults in that the boys would be dressed in leggings and a loin cloth with moccasins on their feet. Sometimes they also sported a plain shirt. They wrapped themselves in buffalo robes to keep warm. Often, they covered their heads with it to protect against severe cold weather.

INDIAN NAMES AND MEANINGS

ANTIMAN  Means "condor of the sun"

ANTINANCO Means "eagle of the sun"

APUTSIAQ Means "snowflake"

AUCAMAN Means "wild condor"

ÂVIÂJA Means "cousin"

AYLEN  Means "happiness" or "clear"

CALFURAY  Means "violet (flower)"

CATAHECASSA Means "black hoof"

CITLALI Means "star"

COWESSESS Means "little child"

CUAUHTÉMOC Means "falling eagle"

GOYATHLAY Means "one who yawns"

KANEONUSKATEW Means "one that walks on four claws"

KAWACATOOSE Means "poor man"

KISECAWCHUCK Means "daystar"

MILLARAY Means "golden flower"

MOEMA Means "sweet"

PILOQUTINNGUAQ Means "little leaf"

SHIKOBA Means "feather"

Government Money for Native Americans

Although Native Americans are entitled to certain benefits by virtue of their heritage, it is a misconception that they are automatically entitled to government money. Because of specific promises made in treaties by the federal government, Native Americans can receive no-cost medical care through the Indian Health Service. The federal government is also charged with allocating money to tribal governments, in exchange for all the land the tribes ceded. However, this money is only allocated to tribal entities, not to individual Indian people. Members of tribes with successful gaming operations may receive money by way of per capita payments. Some American Indian people may also receive money from government leasing of reservation land and court settlements.

BLACKFOOT HISTORY 

The Blackfeet belong to a linguistic stock known as the Algonkian. They originally lived in woodlands, but over time settled on the grasslands between the upper basin of the Missouri and the Saskatchewan river and lived by hunting buffalo and other game. By the 18th century they had acquired horses and guns and were able to use these to expand their territory at the expense of weaker neighbouring tribes such as the Shoshonis and Flatheads. Such was the strength of the Blackfeet that they were able to thwart the encroachment by Europeans into their land during the early decades of the 19th century. However, disease, particularly smallpox, and starvation decimated their population in the second half of the same century so that by 1909 there were only 4,365 Blackfeet remaining.
As well as losing large numbers of their population, the Blackfeet lost large tracks of land to the United States government. Following the loss of their lands and way of life most of the people were forced to live on reservations where they lived by farming or raising cattle. This lifestyle, and the impact of Christina missions, has done much to undermine the traditions of the Blackfeet nation. Today the blackfeet continue to live in reservations in Alberta and Montana.

BLACKFOOT RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS 

The Blackfeet are composed of a group of three Algonkian-speaking tribes: the Pikuni (or Piegan), the Kainah (or Blood), and the Siksika (or Northern Blackfoot). Central to Blackfeet religion is the belief in a sacred force that permeates all things, represented symbolically by the sun whose light sustains all things. The moon, the morning star, and certain animals such as the eagle, the bear, the buffalo, the otter and the beaver were regarded as particularly endowed with sacred power.
Another symbol of sacred power was the medicine bundle. The origin of the sacred bundle was a vision made to a young man by a supernatural spirit instructing him to collect certain things and retain them because of their inherent sacred power. The receipient of the vision would also receive instructions to perform certain sacred rituals.
In addition to bundles possessed by individuals, there were bundles which were owned collectively. Examples of these larger bundles were the Sun Dance bundle, the Beaver bundle and the medicine pipe bundle. The complex rituals associated with these were believed to provide general benefit to the tribe through the provision of food or healing.
Tribal religious life was also characterised by the performance of ceremonies which were often preceded by a purification rituals. Individuals would sit in a sweat lodge sometimes singing songs to sacred beings. The most important tribal ceremony was the Sun Dance. The Sun Dance was performed every summer with the purpose of enabling the renewal of the world. In the course of participating in the ceremony a Sun lodge would be constructed in the middle of which would be a sacred pole whose purpose was to connect the sacred powers of the sky with the earth.

Niitsitapii (Blackfoot) religion is not so much a "religion" as a way of life, a collection of lessons, most learned from the natural environs, including plants, animals, the weather, the seasons, and the dimensions that involve—or house—the spiritual and the spirits.

ENEMIES

The Niitsitapi were enemies of the Crow and Sioux (Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota) on the Great Plains; and the Shoshone, Flathead, and Kootenai in the mountain country to their west. Blackfoot war parties would ride hundreds of miles on raids. A boy on his first war party was given a silly or derogatory name. But after he had stolen his first horse or killed an enemy, he was given a name to honor him.

BLACKFOOT LANGUAGE 

The Blackfoot continue many cultural traditions of the past and hope to extend their ancestors traditions to their children. They would like to teach their children the Pikuni language as well as other traditional knowledge. In the early 1900s, a white woman named Frances Densmore helped the Blackfoot record their language. During the 1950s and 1960s very few Blackfoot spoke the Pikuni language. In order to save their language, the Blackfoot Council asked for help from the elders who still knew the language if they would teach it. The elders had agreed and succeeded in reviving the language, so now the children of today can learn Pikuni at school or at home. In 1994, the Blackfoot Council accepted Pikuni as the official language.

BLACKFOOT TRADITIONS

 In the Blackfoot culture, men were responsible for choosing their marriage partners. In order to even get a chance to receive permission to marry, the male would have to show the woman’s father his skills as a hunter or warrior. If the father was impressed and had agreed to the marriage, the man and woman would exchange gifts of horses and clothes and were considered married.
       Blackfeet often put their arms around friends as a sign of friendship. This could be done between a man and a woman with no worry of being seen as romantically engaged. Kissing on the cheek is also accepted as a friendly gesture. It is considered very rude to a Blackfoot Tribe member to refuse or to back away from one of these gestures.

Blackfoot Population and Location

The Blackfoot, who are also called Blackfeet, Indians were originally a nomadic American Indian tribe that migrated from the Great Lakes region to the Northwestern United States. What started out as one nation, evolved over time into four distinct and independent tribes, each with their own government. Because of similar geographic regions how they live, including clothing style, weapons, and food is very similar. Currently, there is one Blackfoot reservation with a population of about 10,000 Indians in the U.S. and another 15,000 live in Canada.