Colours

• Aotahkoinattsi: Orange

• Maohksinaattsi: Red

• Otsskoinaattsi: Blue

• Saiaaksimokoinaattsi: Green

• Otahkoinaattsi: Yellow

• Apoyinaattsi: Brown

• Siksinaattsi: Black

• Ksiksinaattsi: White

• Sikotssoinaattsi: Purple

• I’kiinaattsi: Pink

• Ikkitsinaatsi: Grey

Stories About Colour

Colour of People

The Blackfoot People gained trust in the North-West Mounted Police because they did not try to hide who they were. The red coats they wore could be seen from a distance. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are called Maohksisokasim: Red Coats. 

The whisky traders were among the first white men in this area. They were called Napikowan: white men to describe the colour of their skin and their behaviour. They did not behave within the social standards and norms of Siksikatsitapi, the Blackfoot People just like Napi, Old Man.

Black White Man

The Siksikaitsitapi also had a name for Black people, who were initially seen as an unusual variety of Napikoan. As Hugh Dempsey relates, “a Black was a Sixapekwan—literally ‘black white man’—likely because the first Blacks appeared singly and in the company of white traders. This caused the Indians to conclude that just as an albino is sometimes found in a buffalo herd, a Black would be found among a group of whites.” Siksapikoan has remained the word used to describe Black men, and Siksapiaki is used to describe Black women. (Hugh A. Dempsey, The Amazing Death of Calf Shirt and Other Blackfoot Stories. Markham: Fifth House, 1994, pp.94.)

Blackfoot Colours Word Search

Find the following words:

• Aotahkoinattsi: Orange

• Maohksinaattsi: Red

• Otsskoinaattsi: Blue

• Saiaaksimokoinaattsi: Green

• Otahkoinaattsi: Yellow

• Apoyinaattsi: Brown

• Siksinaattsi: Black

• Ksiksinaattsi: White

• Sikotssoinaattsi: Purple

• I’kiinaattsi: Pink

• Ikkitsinaatsi: Grey