Piikani Nation

The Piikani Nation are a First Nations people who reside in the western Canadian province of Alberta. The Piikani are one of three nations of the Blackfoot Confederacy, an alliance of Indigenous peoples that once hunted bison on the plains of northern Montana, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. Historically, the Piikani were the largest member of the Blackfoot Confederacy, but since their homeland was divided between the United States and Canada, the term Piikani has applied solely to the group in Canada. These people have been grouped as Aapátohsipikáni, meaning "Northern Piikani," or Aamsskáápipikani, meaning “Southern Piikani.” In the United States, a much larger population is referred to as the Peigan or Blackfeet, though many have adopted the title Blackfeet Indians of Montana. The traditional Piikani were a warrior society that shared many cultural elements with the peoples of the Great Plains.

Background

The Blackfoot Confederacy was an alliance formed between three Indigenous groups of southern Canada and the northern plains of the United States. These groups—the Kainai, Siksika, and Piikani—referred to themselves as the Siksikauwa, or "black-footed people," a name derived from the blackened dye used to color their moccasins. Prior to the mid-nineteenth century, the Blackfoot Confederacy was one of the most powerful military forces on the Great Plains. Through trade with the neighboring Cree and Shoshone, the Blackfoot acquired firearms and horses, two innovations of warfare first brought to North America by the Spanish. The Blackfoot developed considerable skill as equestrians and aggressively warred with other Indigenous groups in the region. By 1833, an estimated twenty thousand Blackfoot dominated the upper Great Plains east of the Rocky Mountains from central Alberta and Saskatchewan into parts of southern Montana.

The Blackfoot were nomadic hunters who followed the buffalo herds across the prairies. As White settlers continued to move westward, the herds began to shrink, and the Blackfoot struggled to maintain their traditional way of life. A smallpox epidemic in 1837 decimated the population, reducing Blackfoot numbers to about 6,350. In 1855, the Blackfoot in the United States signed an agreement with the government relocating them to a reservation in Montana. The Southern Piikani that settled on the land became known as the Peigan or Blackfeet, and later the Blackfeet Indians of Montana. In the twenty-first century, the group has more than 15,500 registered members.

Overview

As the US Army began pressuring the Peigan to give up more of their land, conflict erupted in 1870 that left more than two hundred Indigenous people dead. While most Peigan remained on the reduced Blackfeet Indian Reservation, a group decided to move north to join the Piikani Nation in Canada. In Canada, the Siksika, Kainai, and Northern Piikani signed their own agreement with the Canadian government in 1877. Each nation established reserves in southern Alberta.

The Piikani Nation is located on two reserves on about 180 square miles (465 square kilometers) of land near the towns of Pincher Creek and Fort Macleod in southern Alberta. About 40 percent of the approximately 3,880 registered Piikani live off-reserve in the surrounding communities. The Piikani are an Algonquian-speaking people who share a common language with the Siksika and Kainai. Their name is derived from the word apiku'ni in their Native language, meaning "badly tanned robe."

The culture of the Piikani Nation is similar to that of the other Blackfoot nations and was highly influenced by the societies of the Great Plains. The nation was comprised of smaller family bands, each led by a member who had accumulated great wealth or demonstrated skill in battle. Traditionally, the Piikani were highly reliant on hunting for survival. They used the buffalo, or Iinii in their language, for food, clothing, tools, and shelter. In the late nineteenth century, the Piikani transitioned away from their hunting lifestyle and became successful ranchers and farmers.

Their traditional spiritual beliefs were typical of most Indigenous North American religions. The Piikani believed that humans played a role in a larger creation and were interconnected to the world around them. Their religion was animistic, based on the concept that spirits inhabit everything in the natural world. The life-giving earth was an important focus of Piikani spirituality. They prayed to the spirit of the earth for protection and offered up tributes of tobacco and berries as a form of reverence. A Piikani myth tells of their creator, Old Man or N'api, a being associated with light or the sun. One day, N'api lost a contest with the neighboring Kootenay people and granted the Kootenay lands west of the Rocky Mountains, while the Piikani were given the lands to the east.

Rituals and ceremonies were important elements of Piikani culture. Like many plains peoples, the Piikani took part in purification ceremonies held in sweat lodges. These domed structures were heated by water poured over hot stones to generate steam. Sitting in a sweat lodge was believed to cleanse both mind and body and prepare a person to take part in certain rituals. Many Piikani ceremonies involved a symbolic element known as a medicine bundle. Medicine bundles included sacred objects such as feathers, animal skins, or rattles wrapped in a rawhide bag. Each item in a bundle had a special cultural significance or was associated with a specific song or myth. In the heart of summer, the Piikani held the annual Sun Dance, a days-long ritual meant to honor the sun and seek help from the spirits. The dance was a social experience for the nation, uniting far-flung members of the community and providing them with an occasion to renew alliances and exchange gifts.

Bibliography

Carew-Miller, Anna. "The Great Plains and High Plateau: The Blackfoot Confederacy." Native American Confederacies. Mason Crest, 2014.

Dempsey, Hugh A. "Piikani." Canadian Encyclopedia, 10 Dec. 2021, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/piikuni-peigan-pikuni. Accessed 20 Nov. 2024.

Gipp, Gerald E., et al. On Indian Ground: Northern Plains. Information Age Publishing, Inc., 2023.

Jackson, John C. The Piikani Blackfeet: A Culture Under Siege. Mountain Press, 2000.

"Piikani Nation." Native Ministries International, data.nativemi.org/tribal-directory/Details/piikani-nation-1444455. Accessed 20 Nov. 2024.

"Piikanissini: About Piikani Nation." Piikani Nation, piikanination.com/about. Accessed 20 Nov. 2024.

"Registered Population." Government of Canada, Oct. 2024, fnp-ppn.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/fnp/Main/Search/FNRegPopulation.aspx?BAND‗NUMBER=269&lang=eng. Accessed 20 Nov. 2024.