The Blackfoot Tribe

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In today’s blog we are going to talk about the Blackfoot tribe. “Blackfoot” is the English translation of the word siksika. It refers to the dark colored moccasins that people of this tribe wore. Most Blackfoot Indians speak English today, but about half of them also speak their native Blackfoot language. 

The Blackfoot tribe were original residents of Montana, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, Canada. Most Blackfoot people still living in this region today. There were three tribes in Canada:

•  The Siksika
•  The Kainai
• The Northern Piegan

Also, there is another tribe in the Southern Piegan in Montana.

Today they have their own reservation called the Blackfoot Indian Reservation, in Montana, Saskatchewan and Canada. 

This map shows the traditional Blackfoot lands and the location of their reservations today.

The Blackfoot Indians were nomadic bison hunters and trout fishermen, they depended on the buffalo herd, because they used buffalo for their food, clothing, shelter and equipment, the buffalo meat was either dried for winter or used fresh. Nevertheless, the buffalo were nearly wiped out by unlimited hunting by white settlers and, in the 19th century, they nearly ended the bison herds and permanently changed Native American life. Periods of starvation and deprivation followed and the Blackfoot tribe was forced to adopt ranching and farming.  

The Blackfoot Indians were very spiritual and believed strongly in supernatural powers, they believed that everything had a spirit, whether alive or inanimate and it could be good or evil. The most important spiritual ceremony was the Sun Dance, it was a yearly event that took place during the summer. It centered around dancing, singing, praying, fasting and, in some cases, self-torture. The buffalo was the highlight of this ceremony, because they relied on this animal so much that the ceremony was a way to honor the buffalo.   

The Sun Dance lasted from four to eight days, starting at the sunset of the final day of preparation and ending at sunset. It showed a continuity between life and death, and that there is no end in the life, because it exist for the Blackfoot a cycle of death and rebirth. 

There were many Amerindian tribe who practised that ceremony as The Cheyenne, Sioux, Ponca, etc. This ritual varied from tribe to tribe.

The Blackfoot clothing

The Indian clothing was not the same in every tribe, we can notice the difference in the colors, skin type and decoration.

The women wore long deerskin dresses and men wore buckskin tunics and breechcloths with leggings. 
The Blackfoot were very artistic people, they often decorated their clothing with paint wich was made from nature. Their dresses and war shirts were fringed and decorated with porcupine quills and beads.
Moreover, they used hides of animals such as buffalo, deer and elk to make their clothing. Both Blackfoot women and men wore moccasins on their feet and buffalo hide robes in cold weather. 

Bibliography:

http://www.bigorrin.org/blackfoot_kids.htm
http://www.tribalnations.mt.gov/blackfeet
http://native-american-indian-facts.com/Great-Plains-American-Indian-Facts/Blackfoot-Indian-Facts.shtml