BY: ANDREW BARKHUFF
BLACKFEET ENVIRONMENT
• There is a very diverse terrain, with prairies to mountains.
• Important plants: camas bulbs, bitter root, prairie turnips, roots,
berries, and choke cherries
• There were trees both pine and leaved trees
• It has four seasons with very extreme temperatures
• There were many animals: buffalo, elk, deer antelope, mountain
sheep, grizzly bears, wolf, and fish
• Natural resources: trees, grass, buffalo chips and much more
Blackfoot
reservation
today.
BLACKFEET RELIGION
• Napi is an old man who the Blackfeet thought created
everything.
• The Blackfeet believed in supernatural powers that could be
acquired through the natural environment.
• The Blackfeet performed many rituals.
•
The sun dance and the buffalo dance are two
of them.
The Blackfeet believed strongly in spirits.
These are some of the Blackfeet myths:
The Bad Weapons
The Dog and The Stick
The Bad Wife
The Bear
The Beaver Medicine
The Buffalo Rock
The Elk
The Fast Runner
The Fox
The Ghosts’ Buffalo
• The Blackfeet spoke
Algonquian.
• The Blackfeet did not
Here are some words:
have a written language
A
English
• Their language was a
musical language with
aakiiwa
Woman
complicated verbs with
many parts
nitsinaana
Its mine
• One easy word is “Oki”
which means hello
nitsspommooka He helped
me
aakiiwa
GOVERNMENT
•
•
•
•
•
It was a confederacy
They were led by a council of chiefs
Each hunting tribe had a leader
Decisions were made by the council
This government is called consensus
• The Blackfeets main food source is buffalo
• They also ate mountain sheep, antelope, deer,
elk, and moose
• They also ate pemmican
• They also ate many different kinds of berries and
roots, like choke cherries or buffalo berries
•
•
Pemmican
SHELTER
• The Blackfeet lived in teepees.
• The teepee was made of 19,
• 18 foot poles with animal skins covering the
poles.
• There were paintings on the skins of the
teepees.
• There were willow backrest and buffalo robe
beds for furnishing
• The teepees were made for easy movement
TECHNOLOGY
• The Blackfeet had many kinds of
technology: bows and arrows, spoons,
travois's, arrowheads, hide scrappers, par
fleche, and pounders.
• The most important piece of technology
would be the bow and arrow or fire.
HISTORY
• The Blackfeet came from the eastern
woodlands.
• They came with other Algonquian speaking
people.
• They are thought to be the first to inhabit the
plains.
From this
To this
CLOTHING
•
The clothing was made of
animal skins.
• The females wore long dresses without sleeves
while it was warm.
• While it was cold they wore the dresses with
attachable sleeves
• The men wore breach cloths with leggings and
moccasins
• When it was cool they were the same thing with
buffalo robes.
Entertainment
• The Blackfeet had many instruments like
drums, and whistle.
• They had two different types of drums
• They also had jingles and used them in
many ceremonies.
• They also sang
• One game the kids played was a hoop
game.
• The kids also had dolls.
ART AND CRAFTS
•
•
1.
2.
3.
4.
Most of the Blackfoot are was made out
of beads, porcupine quills, teeth, claws
and berries.
They used:
Berries for paint
Claws and teeth for necklaces
Beads for decorating bags and clothing
Porcupine quills for decorating clothes
WAR/PEACE AND
WEAPONS/COSTUMES
• They wore clothes with bead work, quill
embroidery, and painted designs.
• The painted designs often told tribal stories.
• Chiefs headdress was a long leather strap with
many eagle feathers all the way down tipped
with horse hair.
• They used war clubs, tomahawks, and lances in
battle.
• The also had shields made of hide.
DOMESTICATION
• The Blackfeet domesticated very little.
• The did domesticate plants and animals
though
• They domesticated the dog and horse.
• They domesticated one plant, the native
plain tobacco.
Medicine/Hygiene
• The Blackfeet used healing herbs but only
on open wounds.
• They would have the medicine man try to
get the bad spirit out of you.
• If you were sick they thought that you had
a bad spirit in you.
Gender Roles
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Women did all the gathering and cleaned the hides.
They were in charge of the homes.
They did the cooking and cleaning.
Built the house and carried the post where ever they
went, the house also belonged to the women.
The men did the hunting and planning.
They went to war to defend their families.
Most Blackfeet chiefs and warriors were men.
Both genders took
part in
story telling and
activities.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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http://www.bigorrin.org/blackfoot_kids.htm
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6-134659.jpg
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g
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pg
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mmican.jpg
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nd.jpg
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ry_large/20_b.jpg
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