Blackfoot religion facts for kids

The Blackfeet are a group of Native American people. Today, many Blackfeet live in Montana and Alberta, Canada. Long ago, they lived northwest of the Great Lakes and became part of the Plains Indian culture.

Blackfeet Beliefs and Stories

In the Blackfeet way of thinking, the Sun is very important and powerful. The Sun (called Nah-too-si) is sometimes seen as the Creator (Apistotoke). The Creator is believed to have made the Earth and everything in the universe.

Sometimes, a special character named Napi, or Old Man, represents Nah-too-si. Napi was sent by Nah-too-si to teach people how to live a good life, just like Nah-too-si and his wife, Ksah-koom-aukie (Earth Woman). A-pi-su'-ahts (early riser) was the only child of Sun and Moon who survived. Napi is also said to have given the Blackfeet people special visions and their music.

Numbers like four and seven are very important in Blackfeet stories. So are the main directions (north, south, east, west) and the six main points (up, down, and the four directions) plus the center. The Blackfeet believe that people can talk to the spirit world through visions. During these visions, they might receive new songs or learn about special ceremonies, like those connected to medicine bundles. They see the physical world around us as just a small part of a bigger, true spiritual reality. The Blackfeet call themselves "Real People" because they believe they have a special connection to the spirit world.

The Sun Dance Ceremony

One important ceremony is the Sun Dance, which the Blackfeet call Medicine Lodge. In this ceremony, people would make offerings to the Sun. A famous story tells how the Sun Dance began. A human woman named Feather-woman fell in love with Morning Star, the child of Sun and Moon. After she picked a sacred turnip, she and her half-divine son were sent away from the Sky-Country. Feather-woman eventually died, leaving her son, Poïa (Scar-Face), alone.

Poïa found his way back to Sky-Country. His grandparents, Sun and Moon, felt sorry for him. To honor them, Poïa promised to do the Sun Dance once a year. During the Medicine Lodge ceremony, Blackfeet people would make promises to the Sun. They might ask for protection in war, for their families, or for the health of their tribe. In return, they would offer sweat in special lodges and make small, personal sacrifices to show their devotion.

Other Spirits and Nature's Power

The Blackfeet also believe in other spirits and powerful beings connected to nature and animals. These are often grouped into "Above Persons," "Ground Persons," and "Under Water Persons." For example, they honored spirits like Thunder, Wind Maker, and Cold Maker. They believed these spirits could bring rain or stop storms.

Amskapipikuni is a figure in their stories who is said to have invented tobacco. He also made the first war-time killing using an aspen stick.

Ghosts and Bad Luck

The Sta-au are believed to be a type of ghost, specifically the spirits of people who were cruel when they were alive. Most people's spirits are thought to go to certain parts of the hills after death. However, the Sta-au are said to stay around camps. People believe they can cause bad luck and harm to living people, especially in the morning.

The Buffalo Dance

For a long time, the American Bison, often called "buffalo," was a main source of food and many other things for the Blackfeet. The Blackfeet word for buffalo is Natusi. The Buffalo Dance is a special ceremony that remembers how important the buffalo were.

A common way to hunt buffalo was to guide a herd off a cliff. After the buffalo died at the bottom, the hunters would prepare the meat.

The night before a hunt, a shaman (a spiritual leader) would smoke tobacco in a special way and pray to the sun. His wives had to stay inside their home and pray to the sun, burning sweet grass until he returned. The shaman, wearing a buffalo headdress and not eating, would lead a group of people in a V-shape. He would get the buffalo herd's attention and bring them close to the cliff. Then, other men hiding behind the herd would wave their robes and shout, scaring the buffalo. The buffalo would run off the cliff and die on the rocks below.

The Legend of the Buffalo Dance

There's a famous story about how the buffalo once refused to go over the cliff. A woman walking below the cliff saw a herd right on the edge. She promised to marry any buffalo that jumped down. One buffalo did, survived, and then turned into many dead buffalo at the bottom of the cliff. The woman's people ate the meat, and the young woman left with the buffalo.

Her father went looking for her. When he rested, he asked a magpie to find his daughter and tell her where he was. The magpie found the woman and told her. The woman met her father but was afraid to go home, fearing the buffalo would kill them both. She told him to wait until the buffalo were asleep. When she returned to the buffalo, her husband smelled another person. He gathered his herd, found the father, and trampled him to death.

The woman cried, and her buffalo husband said that if she could bring her father back to life, they could both return to their tribe. The woman asked the magpie to find a piece of her father's body. The magpie found a piece of his spine. The woman covered the bone with her robe and sang a song. She succeeded, and her father came back to life!

Impressed, the woman's husband taught them a special dance. This dance would attract the buffalo and help hunters succeed. It would also bring dead buffalo back to life, just as the woman had brought her father back. The father and daughter returned to their tribe and taught a small group of men, later known as I-kun-uh'-kah-tsi ("all compatriots"), these important dances.