Prof. Rains
NAMS
2/8/11
Black Feet

Siksika is translated in English to ‘black feet’. Black feet is thought to be their name because of the discoloring of their moccasins by the ashes of the prairie fires, or possibly because they painted their moccasins black. The Black Feet are a people of great spirit and confidence in their way of life. This is what allowed them to keep the black foot tribe alive to this day. The spirit of the ‘black feet’ is due to their rich heritage, customs, beliefs, art, and stories. They have been able to fend off non-stop attacks like in the late 1800’s with the official government policy of assimilation. Assimilation was the white people believing that their way of life was the best way of life and all Indians should become more like them. The Indians made it through the easterners’ restriction on their young people like speaking their first language and forcing them to dress like whites, cut their hair and go to English schools. The white peoples life style did not appeal to the Indians due to all of the genocide, disease, war, and religion. The Indians way of life is prosperous and has been successful for thousands of years in not making for themselves the problems the white people have. The Indians like being Indians, they want to be Indians, and they will always fight to remain Indians. The black feet religiously believed in medicine bundles. There were more then 50 of them and the most popular were the beaver bundles, medicine pipe bundles, and the sun dance bundle. They believed mostly in spirits and liked to praise them with their ceremonies. Ceremonies were not always about spirits but were a social gathering for the tribes as well. They are also scared of some spirits such as the spirit of a dead person; if someone dies in a tipi they will not go near it or use that tipi ever again. The black feet like all the other Indian tribes lived off of the land until the Europeans arrived and trading began between them. The black feet relied mostly on the hides of the buffalo, deer, elk, and antelope to make the drums and instruments for their ceremonies such as the sun dance. They also used porcupine quills to sew and decorate their outfits. Sweet grass was used for bracelets and necklaces. The weapons used by the black feet were the bow and arrow, and rocks carved to sharp points. The black feet loved their red meat. They were roving buffalo hunters usually moving from place to place following the buffalo. The buffalo were more then just food; the buffalo gave them hides to make clothes and tipis, and the buffalo’s bones were used for weapons and utensils. Other then the buffalo and red meat alike they only picked a few plants. They would pick a native tobacco and a camas root. The black feet avoided fish because they believed that the rivers and lakes held special power through habitation of the underwater people called the Suyitapis. Another meat that they some ate but others didn’t was bear meat. They did not think the meat was good enough to eat. The black feet held territory stretching from Saskatchewan, Canada to the southern headstreams of the Missouri River in Montana and area around the base of the Rocky Mountains. This part of the continent gets a cold winter so they were very educated in keeping warm. They layered up buffalo hides and called a tipi home. Depending on the size the tipis were made from 8 to 20 buffalo hides and framed by 19 pine poles averaging 18 feet in length. They would sometimes have a fire in the middle to keep warm and the smoke would escape from a hole in the top of the tipi. The Blackfeet tribes had a few very good artists and they would inscribe their paintings on buffalo hides. Art was not a big part of their lives. Their main display of art was how they decorated their outfits. The women wore dresses ankle length and sleeveless. They decorated their dresses using cut fringes, porcupine quills, and geometric designs. Once the European traders arrived glass beads were now used to decorate their clothing. Sweet grass was used with the beads to make necklaces and bracelets. All that is really known about their time of arrival is that they moved out west to the plains in the early 1600’s from the area around Maine and Canada.
The black feet were a hardy group of Indians who depended greatly on animals for every part of their lives. They were powerful and held plenty of power and land through the Great Plains. They are described as a restless, aggressive, and predatory people who were constantly at war with the surrounding Indian groups. Their great fighting spirit through their medicine bundles, way of life, and Sun dances has kept them alive to this day.