Blackfoot mythology

There are a vast array of myths surrounding the Blackfoot Native Americans as well as Aboriginal people. The Blackfeet inhabit the Great Plains, in the areas known as Alberta, Saskatchewan, and areas of Montana. These stories, myths, origins, and legends play a big role in their everyday life, such as their religion, their history, and their beliefs.^[1] Only the elders of the Blackfoot tribes are allowed to tell the tales, and are typically difficult to obtain because the elders of the tribes are often reluctant to tell them to strangers who are not of the tribe.^[1] People such as George B. Grinnell, John Maclean, D.C. Duvall, Clark Wissler, and James Willard Schultz were able to obtain and record a number of the stories that are told by the tribes.

The Myth of Creation[]

There are several creation stories found within Blackfoot culture; one of those is the creation Story involving Napi. Napi is a regular figure in many Blackfoot stories and is considered an important figure in the Blackfoot mythology itself. Napi is said to have created the earth using the mud collected by Muskrat during a flood.^[1][2] He not only created the earth using the mud, but he also created the men and women as well animals and plants. Napi taught the Blackfoot people what plants to eat, and animals to hunt, including their main food source, the buffalo.

Origin of the Wind[]

In Blackfoot mythology, there are legends surrounding the origins of everything because, to them, everything has an origin. Napi is featured in the origin of the wind.^[1] In this legend, Napi finds two bags containing summer and winter. Napi was determined to get a hold of these bags so that he could make the two seasons of equal months.^[1] Napi tried to gain possession of the bags without success. He finally sent a little animal, which successfully gained possession of the summer bag. The guardian of the bag chased after the animal and decapitated it. In the chaos, the bag burst open and a strong wind came out of it.^[1]

Language on a Mountain[]

In this story, Napi is referred to as Old Man.^[3] There was a great flood that swept through the land, and after the flood, Old Man made the water different colors. He gathered the people on top of a large mountain where he gave them water of different colors. Old Man then told the people to drink the water, then speak, and so they did.^[3] Everyone was speaking a different language except those who received the black water; they were speaking the same language, and they consisted of the Bands of the Blackfoot, The Piegans (Apatohsipikuni and Amskapipikuni), the Blackfoot (siksika), and the Bloods (Kaina). This was said to have taken place in the highest mountain in the Montana reservation.^[3]

Legend of Red Coulee[]

Red Coulee is an actual place located between Mcleod and Benton next to the Marias River in Montana.^[1] The Blackfoot Native Americans were told of a medicine stone by the people who inhabited the Montana area at the time. Years later, the Blackfoot tribe gathered a group of men and headed off to find the stone. When they found it, they were laughed at by their leader who said it was a child's story and rolled the stone down the hill.^[1] Later, on their way back to the tribe, they became engaged in battle, leaving all dead but one man to tell the story. And that is why they call it Red Coulee. People still stop by there today to give offerings for all who lost their lives.^[1]

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