Communities and Professions
How the towns got their Blackfoot names
A kaa pio yiss: Fort Macleod
Fort Macleod was built by the North-West Mounted Police in 1874. It was named after the Lieutenant Colonel James Macleod. Macleod was instrumental in putting an end to the whisky trade and in negotiating Treaty 7 with the Blackfoot, Tsuut’ina and Stoney/Nakoda First Nations. Blackfoot people referred to James Macleod as Stamix-otokan or “Bull’s head” because of a buffalo head mounted over his residence. (Merrily K. Aubrey (ed.), Concise Place Names of Alberta. Edmonton: Government of Alberta, 2007.)
A’kaoh ki mi: Cardston
Charles Ora Card, a son-in-law of Mormon leader Brigham Young, founded a community on the banks of Lee’s Creek in April 1887. Card arrived with a small group of Mormon settlers fleeing anti-polygamy laws in the United States. A Blackfoot visitor to the community observed several women in one household, giving the community the name A’kaoh ki mi, many wives. ( Larry Donovan and Tom Monto, Alberta Place Names: The Fascinating People and Stories Behind the Naming of Alberta. Edmonton: Dragon Hill Publishing, 2006.) Cardston was established as a village in 1898 and became a town in 1901 (Merrily, Concise Place Names.)
Ksaa mais ski nii: Magrath
This town took its Blackfoot name after Blood Tribe members sold hay to a man with humped back in this area. Ksaa mais ski nii also refers to ‘talking into the ground.’ The village of Magrath was established in 1901 and named after Charles A. Magrath, surveyor and then-manager of the Alberta Railway & Irrigation Company. Magrath was also a politician at local, territorial and national levels. (Merrily, Concise Place Names.) Photo by Wilson Hui on flickr.
Moh kins stsis: Calgary
Moh kins stsis describes the shape of the Elbow River. The city of Calgary got its start as the second NWMP fort, established in 1876 at the place where the Elbow River flows into the Bow River. Lieutenant-Colonel James Macleod named the fort Calgary, after his ancestral home on the Isle of Mull in Scotland. In 1876, the federal government officially approved the name. There are different views on the original meaning of ‘Calgary’; some suggest it is Gaelic for ‘clear running water’; others say it is Gaelic for a ‘bay farm.’ (Donovan and Monto, Alberta Place Names.)
Po no kais siis aah taa: Red Deer
Po no kais siis aah taa refers to Elk River, the area where the horse was introduced to the Blackfoot People. The city is named after the Red Deer River that flows through it. Scottish employees of the Hudson Bay Company named the river after seeing a large number of elk, which reminded them of the red deer in their homeland. (Merrily, Concise Place Names.) In 1882, people began to settle in Red Deer Crossing, a point where the Calgary-Edmonton Trail crossed the Red Deer River. (Donovan and Monto, Alberta Place Names.) When the Canadian Pacific Railway arrived in Calgary in 1883, a small trading post was built at the site as traffic increased. Red Deer was incorporated as a town in 1901 and a city in 1913.
Siko ko toki: Lethbridge
Siko-ko-toki describes the black rocks, or coal outcroppings that Blackfoot people observed in the area. The North Western Coal and Navigation Company began extracting coal in 1882 from a site known as Coal Banks; the small settlement around the operation was also referred to as Coalhurst. In 1885 the name was formally changed to Lethbridge after the company’s first president, William Lethbridge. (Alex Johnston and Andy Den Otter, Lethbridge: A Centennial History. Lethbridge: The City of Lethbridge, 1991.) The town of Lethbridge was incorporated in 1890 and it became a city in 1906.
Okotoks
The name Okotoks comes from a Blackfoot word meaning “rock.” The name may refer to a rocky crossing point on the Sheep River, which Siksika people used before European settlement. The name may also have referred to the large glacial erratic west of Okotoks, which stands out on the otherwise flat prairie. (Frits Pannekoek, “Okotoks,” in The Canadian Encyclopedia. Last edited Aug. 2, 2019, https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/okotoks.) Known as Big Rock, it was transported by the continental glacier during the last ice age. Okotoks was established as a village in 1899, and a town in 1904. (Donovan and Monto, Alberta Place Names.)
Professions and New Roles
The focus of traditional roles and responsibilities of the Blackfoot People was to meet the basic necessities of food, clothing and shelter to survive the harsh environment. The people worked together as a collective to meet their needs. A new way of life was introduced; new roles and responsibilities to meet our basic needs.
Word Description
I yin na kii koan: police, describes the act of apprehension
I yin na kia ki: female police, woman apprehender
Naa to ya pii koan: priest/holy white man came into the area shortly after the police to introduce the people to religion. The Blackfoot People believe in Ihtsipaitahpiyop: Source of Life, and the spiritual gatherings are carried out by the sacred societies. In their daily prayers the people give thanks to Na to si, the sun, source of energy and life.
Iss ksi ni mat os ki: teacher, describes a person who is teaching us, learning us
Naa to wa’p a ki: nun, refers to holy white woman
Ai so kin a ki: doctor, refers to person who makes us feel better
Ai so kin a kia a ki: female doctor, refers to woman who makes us feel better. The Blackfoot People made ksi tsi kim sta, herbal teas, for their medicine. They made tobacco offerings before they picked the plants. There are a few herbalists in the community.
Places and Stories of Importance
Buffalo
Illustration by Jason Eaglespeaker
Buffalo and the Native People
Thousands of years ago, Blackfoot people did not eat buffalo (bison). They subsisted on berries, roots and small animals. Napi, Blackfoot Creator, saw his children killed by the buffalo. He declared he would change this so the people would eat the buffalo. He gathered a herd at the Porcupine Hills and taught the people how to use the pis’kun (buffalo jump) as a method to kill the buffalo. He taught them how to use sharp-edged stone to remove the hides and cut the meat.
Buffalo roamed in large herds. They grazed on the prairie during warmer seasons and in the river valleys during winter. Their thick hides protected them from the prairie winds and blizzards. In the springtime the buffalo rubbed against trees and rocks to shed their winter coats.
Buffalo became a central part of Blackfoot life, providing the people with food, clothing, shelter and tools. Hunting methods were perfected as they were passed down with each generation. The people did not take the buffalo for granted. They used ritual and “Buffalo Calling” ceremonies as part of the hunting process. During times of famine, the people called the buffalo to the camp to provide food.
The pis’kun was still in use as recently as 150 years ago. The V-shaped drive lines were marked off by cairns leading toward the pis’kun. The cairns were wedged with branches and the wind kept the branches moving. Cairns were also occupied by people who waved buckskins to scare the buffalo herd stampeding down drive lines. A grease and sage concoction smeared on the bodies of hunters prevented the buffalo from detecting their human scent. The warrior hunters kept the animals in their lanes. The buffalo jammed together and thundered forward. Once they reached the edge of the pis’kun it would have been too late to turn back.
Illustration of a Buffalo Jump.
Illustration by Jason Eaglespeaker
The horse was introduced to the Blackfoot People around 1740. Horses are called po-no-kah-mita (elk dog) and they were quickly incorporated into the hunting process. Trained buffalo horses were fast and intelligent animals; they learned to charge the buffalo and made it easier for hunters to control the buffalo herd. In one technique known as the “surround,’ hunters on horses surrounded a herd of buffalo and attacked from all sides, yelling as they tightened their circle to finish off the wounded animals with mauls. Another technique was to herd the buffalo into “jumping pounds,” in which corrals with a drop were camouflaged with branches with no escape. Once inside, the animal was promptly slaughtered. Sport hunting was taboo and solo hunting was discouraged.
The butchering and distribution of the buffalo carcasses was a communal operation. The preferred cuts of meat were awarded to the better hunters and prominent relatives. The liver, brains, hearts and kidneys were eaten raw at the kill site. Pemmican was made for the winter season. One buffalo could feed three hundred people for one day. Every part of the animal was used, and it was once estimated that First Nations had over three hundred separate uses for a buffalo. (Reid, Gordon, Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Fifth House Ltd., Revised Edition (2002).)
The Rock
Old man and the rock
Illustration by Jason Eaglespeaker
Once Old Man was travelling, and becoming tired he sat down on a rock to rest. After a while he started to go on, and because the sun was hot he threw his robe over the rock, saying: “Here, I give you my robe, because you are poor and have let me rest on you. Always keep it.”
He had not gone very far, when it began to rain, and meeting a coyote he said: “Little brother, run back to that rock, and ask him to lend me his robe. We will cover ourselves with it and keep dry.” So the coyote ran back to the rock, but returned without the robe. “Where is the robe” asked Old Man. “Sai-yah!” replied the coyote. “The rock said you gave him the robe, and he was going to keep it.”
Then Old Man was very angry, and went back to the rock and jerked the robe off it, saying: “I only wanted to borrow this robe until the rain was over, but now that you have acted so mean about it, I will keep it. You don’t need a robe anyhow. You have been out in the rain and snow all your life, and it will not hurt you to live so always.
With the coyote he went off into a coulee, and sat down. The rain was falling, and they covered themselves with the robe and were very comfortable. Pretty soon they heard a loud noise, and Old Man told the coyote to go up on the hill and see what it was. Soon he came running back, saying, “Run! Run! The big rock is coming!”; and they both ran away as fast as they could. The coyote tried to crawl into a badger hole, but it was too small for him and he stuck fast, and before he could get out, the rock rolled over him and crushed his hind parts. Old Man was scared, and as he ran he threw off his robe and what clothes he could, so that he might run faster. The rock kept gaining on him all the time.
Not far off was a band of buffalo bulls, and Old Man cried out to them, saying, “Oh my brothers, help me, help me. Stop that rock.” The bulls ran and tried to stop it, but it crushed their heads. Some deer and antelope tried to help Old Man, but they were killed, too. A lot of rattlesnakes formed themselves into a lariat, and tried to catch it; but those at the noose end were all cut to pieces. The rock was now close to Old Man, so close that it began to hit his heels; and he was about to give up, when he saw a flock of bull bats circling over his head. “Oh my little brothers,” he cried, “help me. I am almost dead.” Then the bull bats flew down, one after another, against the rock and every time one of them hit it he chipped off a piece, and at last one hit it fair in the middle and blown into two pieces.
The Old Man was very glad. He went to where there was a nest of bull bats, and made the young ones’ mouths very wide and pinched off their bills, to make them prattle and queer looking. That is the reason they look so today. (George Bird Grinnell, Blackfoot Lodge Tales: The Story of a Prairie People. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1892; Scituate, Digital Scanning Inc., 2001, pp.153-154.)