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

The Cheyenne Tribe

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In today´s post we are going to talk about The Cheyenne Tribe. The word Cheyenne comes from the Dakota Sioux name for the Cheyennes, Šahiyenan, which means "relatives of the Cree." However, in their own languages they call themselves Tsitsistas, which means “the people”.

The Cheyenne tribe lived originally in stationary villages in the eastern parts of the country and occupied much of what is now Minnesota until they migrated to the high plains in the early 1800s. They were divided into the Northern Cheyenne and Southern Cheyenne and ranged from the Missouri River to the Arkansas River. Today there are two Cheyenne tribes, one in Oklahoma (Southern Cheyenne) and the other in Montana (Northern Cheyenne).

Like most Native American tribes, the Cheyenne tribes are autonomous. That means each tribe has its own government, laws, police, and services, just like a small country. However, only the Northern Cheyenne have their own reservation. The Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho live on trust lands or in Western Oklahoma towns. The Cheyenne tribe of Native American Indians were amongst what is now the most well known of plains Indian tribes.

The Cheyenne tribes were a proud people who valued their freedom and relationship with the created world. They lived in tepees, or tipis as is the Sioux spelling, and often migrated with the buffalo herds. The men of the Cheyenne tribe were considered to be brave providers and the women virtuous.

Though the buffalo provided food, bones for tools and weapons, and hide, their clothing was typically made by buckskin, which was softer in texture than buffalo skin.

They were ceremonious and celebrated many events and accomplishments through tribal rituals. The smoking of the peace pipe was one such ritual that men of the Cheyenne tribe highly valued and was a routine custom at council meetings. Storytelling was another valued custom and a way of preserving their past.

Their language is part of the Algonquian language and it is still spoken by many Cheyenne descendants.

Cheyenne artists are famous for their fine quill embroidery, native beading, pipestone carving, and pottery.

The Cheyennes traded regularly with other tribes of the Great Plains. Once they stopped farming, they especially liked to trade buffalo hides for tobacco and corn. The Cheyennes usually communicated with other Plains Indian tribes using the Plains Sign Language. Their closest allies were the Arapaho, with whom they often shared territory.

The Cheyenne also fought wars with other tribes. Plains Indian tribes treated war differently than European countries did. They didn´t fight over territory but instead to prove their courage, and so Plains Indian war parties rarely fought to the death or destroyed each other´s villages. Instead, their war customs included counting coup (touch an opponent in battle without harming him), stealing an enemy´s weapon or horse, or forcing the other tribe´s warriors to retreat. So the Cheyenne sometimes were enemies of neighboring tribes like the Sioux, Comanches, and Kiowas, and other times they were allies. The Europeans who first met them were surprised by how often the Cheyenne tribe fought with their neighbors, yet how easily they made peace with each other when they were done fighting.

Nėstaévȧhósevóomȧtse  (I'll see you again in Cheyenne language)

Bibliography:
http://www.indians.org/articles/cheyenne-tribe.html
http://www.bigorrin.org/cheyenne_kids.htm
http://www.kidport.com/reflib/usahistory/NativeAmericans/Cheyenne.htm

The Cherokee Tribe

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In today’s blog we are going to talk about the Cherokee tribe, which was one of the largest Native Americans tribes in the country. The tribe came from Iroquoian descent and its name came from a Muskogee (a language of the American Southeast) word, which means ‘’speaker of another language’’, however Cherokee Indians originally called themselves Aniyunwiya, which means ‘’the most important people’’. Nowadays they accept the name Cherokee.

The localization of the Cherokee tribes are originally in the southeast region (North and South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee). Many Cherokees had to move to Oklahoma along the Trail of Tears or how they called, Indian Removal (1800’s) created by the US government, however some of these Cherokees run away to the Appalachian hills.

The Cherokees did not want to leave their land and to achieve that they asked the Supreme Court for help. Unfortunately the Cherokee could not stay in their homeland although they were allies of the Americans and many died during the travel.

 The Cherokee Indian nation is federally organized in:

                -the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma

                -the United Keetoowah Band in Oklahoma

                -the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina

The Cherokee people live on a reservation (Indian reservations are lands that belong to Native American tribes and are under their control. In these lands each Cherokee tribe has its own government, laws, police, and services. However, they are also US citizens and must obey American law.

Currently the Cherokee people speak English but there is also another language that they use: The Cherokee Indian language, which contains words like wahya (wolf) or wado (thank you)

The inventor of the Cherokee writing system (and syllabary alphabet) was Sequoyah, about whom we will write more in another post.

Like in others tribes, the Cherokee men were in charge of hunting, war and diplomacy, while the Cherokee women were in charge of farming, property and family.

The Cherokee’s villages used to be located near a river and had palisades around them for protection. In these villages could live thirty to fifty families, they would be part of a larger Cherokee clan such as the Wolf Clan or the Bird Clan.

A fun Facts about the Cherokee is that they enjoyed playing a stickball game called Anejodi which was similar to lacrosse. 

Dodadagohvi! (goodbye in Cherokee language)

Bibliography:
http://www.bigorrin.org/cherokee_kids.htm
http://www.ducksters.com/history/native_american_cherokee.php
http://www.kidport.com/reflib/socialstudies/nativeamericans/Cherokee.htm

The Apache Tribe

New post!

In today's post we are going to tell you a little bit more about some of the most important american tribes and how they used to live. There were over 45 different tribes! 
We are pretty sure that you have already heard about some of these tribes that we are going to tell you but we wanted to let you know a little bit more. We also decided to split up all the information in a couple of posts, this way it will be easier for you, readers.

Keep on reading!

THE APACHE

They were a tribe who lived in a place known as the Great Apacheria. It is located from Western Arizona to Eastern Texas and also from Northern Colorado to Mexico. It is said that they also lived in Alaska. 

The name Apache was used by other tribes like The Pueblo or also by the Spanish people to describe them as the 'enemy' but they called themselves 'Inde' or 'Nide', which means 'the people'.
They were such a big group of inhabitants so they were divided in two different groups and the Rio Grande was used as a frontier between them: 

• The Eastern
• The Western

Moreover, inside of those two big groups they were also divided in family groups and each one used to live independently and those groups were led by the most important member of the family (only men). It is said that the Apache were never organized as a political union.

One of the most important characteristic is that their were typically nomadic, which means that they used to travel from one place to another due to their dependence on the buffalo because it was the only way for them to stay alive by eating their meat, using their skin for clothes or for buildind tends or even the bones could work into tools such as needles and scrapers. Also, while they were traveling from camp to camp, they used to collect roots and berries. Sometimes they also planted seeds on their way so, later, when they returned, they could harvest them.
Also, they learnt very quickly to ride horses, this way, they could hunt the buffalo more easily.

Regarding trading, the Apache used to be really good at it and, usually, they traded with another tribe called The Pueblo but this trade was broken after the Spaniards came to this territory.
After the year 1730 the Apache and the Spaniards started a battle because of the invasion of the Apache's territory, which lasted a long period of time and there were a great number of deaths. Thirtheen years later, the Spaniards accepted to give the Apache a small territory of Texas where they could live peacefully.
Nonetheless, many years later, the Apache tribe created a bond with the white men. It made them feel more protected but it was not for a long period of time; raids started to take place soon.
The Apache had many celebration days through the year and they had two important dances:

• Sunrise dance
• Mountain Spirit dance

Most of these celebrations were religious and it was presided by the medicine-man of the group.

In this video you can see how they celebrated the Mountain Spirit dance, the music and the outfits.


Bibliography:
http://www.kidport.com/reflib/socialstudies/nativeamericans/Apache.htm
http://www.bigorrin.org/apache_kids.htm
http://www.indians.org/articles/apache-indians.html
http://native-american-indian-facts.com/Southwest-American-Indian-Facts/Apache-Indian-Tribe-Facts.shtml

Welcome to our Blog!

Hi everyone!

We are Marina, Siham, Marta and Jessika. We are students of Translation and Interpreting at the University Pablo de Olavide in Seville (Spain) and our objective is show you the history of the Native Americans in the United States. In this blog we are going to write about the music, the traditions, the myths of this folk and so on.

Our next post will be ready soon, so keep an eye on it!

Toksa! (the Lakota tribe uses ''Toksa'', a phrase meaning ''see you later'')