Delve into the profound narratives of the Blackfoot creation story, a foundational myth that illuminates the origins of the world and humanity through the wisdom of Napi, also known as the Old Man. This sacred tale, central to Blackfeet beliefs, details how their revered creator shaped the landscape, brought forth life, and bestowed upon people the essential knowledge for survival.
The Blackfeet people hold a deep reverence for the Sun, recognizing it as the ultimate creator. Among its many names, Napi, or Old Man, stands out as the primary architect of existence. This ancient narrative begins in a primordial state, where water stretched limitlessly across the vast expanse, with no discernible land in sight. Upon these endless waters, a solitary raft floated, carrying Old Man and a diverse assembly of animals, all awaiting the transformation of their watery domain.
The Emergence of Land from Primordial Waters
Old Man harbored a profound desire to forge solid ground from the omnipresent waters. He initiated this grand endeavor by enlisting the help of various animals. First, the resourceful beaver was tasked with diving to the water’s depths, hoping to retrieve a speck of mud. The beaver plunged into the abyss, remaining submerged for an extended period, yet returned unsuccessful; the bottom remained tantalizingly out of reach. Subsequently, the agile loon attempted the feat, followed by the swift otter, but both found the water’s immensity insurmountable.
Finally, the humble muskrat was dispatched. He disappeared for such a long duration that his companions feared he had drowned. Against all odds, the muskrat resurfaced, barely alive, floating lifelessly on the water. Upon retrieving him onto the raft, they carefully examined his tiny paws and discovered a minuscule amount of mud clutched within. This precious mud was the seed of creation.
With this meager but vital offering, Old Man carefully dried the mud and scattered it across the vast water. From this simple act, the land miraculously formed, stretching out to become the earth as it is known today. This particular version of the Blackfoot creation story bears a striking resemblance to similar narratives found among some Eastern Indigenous tribes, highlighting ancient connections and shared understandings of the world’s beginnings.
Shaping the Earth: Rivers, Mountains, and Sustenance
After the land’s initial formation, Old Man embarked on a journey across his new creation, meticulously crafting and refining the earth to his liking. His first significant act involved delineating the courses of rivers, sometimes allowing them to flow smoothly, and at other times, strategically placing cascading falls. He sculpted the imposing mountains and vast prairies, cultivating diverse flora including towering timber, smaller trees, and various bushes. In some instances, he transported substantial quantities of rocks, which he used to construct prominent features like the Sweet Grass Hills, solitary peaks that rise majestically from the expansive prairie.
Understanding the needs of the nascent animal kingdom, Old Man caused lush grass to proliferate across the plains, providing abundant forage for creatures. He thoughtfully designated specific areas for the growth of different kinds of roots and berries, ensuring a bountiful larder for all. These specialized plots included areas for camas, wild carrots, wild turnips, sweet root, bitter root, serviceberries, blueberries, cherries, plums, and rosebuds, each contributing to the rich biodiversity of the land.
The Creation and Placement of Animals
Old Man also brought forth all manner of animals that traverse the ground. A memorable instance of his creative wisdom is the story of the bighorn sheep. Initially, when he made the bighorn with its magnificent, sweeping horns, he placed it upon the prairie. However, the bighorn struggled to move with ease, appearing awkward and slow in that environment. Recognizing this misfit, Old Man gently took the bighorn by one of its horns and led it into the rugged hills and rocky terrains. There, he released it, and the bighorn instantly bounded and skipped gracefully among the cliffs, effortlessly scaling daunting heights.
“This is the place for you,” Old Man declared to the bighorn, “This is what you are fitted for: the rough country and the mountains.” While in the mountains, he also created the agile antelope. He released it to observe its movement, but the antelope, running at astonishing speed, stumbled over rocks and injured itself. Realizing its unsuitable environment, Old Man relocated the antelope to the open prairie. There, it ran with unmatched speed and grace. “This is the place that suits you,” he affirmed.
The First People and the Debate on Mortality
Eventually, Old Man decided to bring forth humankind. One day, he meticulously molded clay into the shapes of a woman and a child. After placing these figures on the ground, he spoke to the clay, proclaiming, “You shall be people.” He then carefully spread his robe over the clay forms and departed. The following morning, he returned to find the clay figures subtly changed. On the second morning, they had transformed even further. Finally, on the fourth day, he lifted the covering and commanded the images, “Stand up and walk,” and they immediately obeyed.
They walked with their creator down to the river, where he revealed his name to them. As they stood gazing at the flowing water, the woman posed a profound question to Old Man: “How is it? Shall we live always? Will there be an end to us?”
Old Man pondered this, admitting, “I have not thought of that. We must decide.” He then picked up a buffalo chip and announced, “I will take this buffalo chip and throw it in the river. If it floats, people will become alive again four days after dying; they will die for only four days. But if it sinks, there will be an end to them.” He cast the chip into the river, and it floated serenely.
However, the woman had a different perspective. She picked up a stone and declared, “No, I will throw this stone in the river. If it floats, we shall live always; if it sinks, people must die so that their friends who are left alive may always remember them.” The woman threw the stone into the water, and it swiftly sank.
“Well,” said Old Man with a sigh, “you have chosen; there will be an end to them.” Not long after this pivotal decision, the woman’s child died, and she wept inconsolably. In her grief, she pleaded with Old Man, “Let us change this. The law that you first made, let that be the law.” But Old Man was firm: “Not so; what is made law must be law. We will undo nothing that we have done. The child is dead, but it cannot be changed. People will have to die.” This crucial moment in the Blackfoot creation story established the immutable law of mortality.
Early Survival: Learning from the Creator
These first people, born into a nascent world, were initially helpless. Their hands resembled those of bears, equipped with long claws, and they were naked and ignorant of how to sustain themselves. Old Man, ever the benevolent teacher, guided them. He revealed the locations of edible roots and berries and instructed them on the proper methods for gathering these provisions. He also taught them that at specific times of the year, they could peel and consume the bark from certain trees. Furthermore, he identified small ground-dwelling animals—rats, squirrels, skunks, and beavers—as suitable food sources. Beyond sustenance, Old Man also imparted knowledge about roots possessing medicinal properties, vital for curing sickness.
The Buffalo’s Challenge and Humanity’s Empowerment
In those early days, immense herds of buffalo roamed the land. These powerful, black creatures were formidable adversaries, armed with dangerous long horns. As the nascent human population began to move about, they often encountered the buffalo, who would charge, gore, kill, and then consume them. One day, while traveling, the creator discovered some of his children, the people he had made, lying dead, torn to pieces and partly eaten by buffalo. This sight filled him with sorrow.
“I have not made these people right,” he lamented. “I will change this; from now on, the people shall eat the buffalo.” He approached the surviving people and questioned them, “How is it that you do nothing to these animals that are killing you?” The people responded with despair, “What can we do? These animals are armed and can kill us, and we have no way to kill them.”
The creator reassuringly stated, “That is not hard. I will make you something that will kill these animals.” He then went into the wilderness, cut some straight serviceberry shoots, and stripped their bark. From a larger piece of wood, he fashioned a flattened shape and attached a string, thus creating the first bow. Being the master of all birds, he caught one, carefully removed feathers from its wings, and tied them to the shaft of a wooden arrow. Initially, he tied four feathers, but upon testing, the arrow did not fly true. He adjusted, using three feathers, and upon further testing, found the arrow now flew straight and true.
He then gathered hard stones, skillfully breaking them to create sharp pieces. He discovered that black flint stones yielded the best arrow points. With these newly devised tools, he instructed the people on their use. “The next time you go out,” he commanded, “take these things with you and use them as I tell you. Do not run from these animals. When they rush at you and come close, shoot the arrows at them as I have taught you, and you will see that they will run from you or around you in a circle.” He also broke off pieces of stone, affixed them to handles, and showed them how to use these stone knives to butcher the flesh when they successfully hunted buffalo.
The First Hunt and the Gift of Fire
Following Old Man’s teachings, a group of people ascended a small hill to observe their surroundings. The buffalo spotted them and, recognizing their usual prey, bellowed to one another, “Ah, there is some more of our food!” and charged. This time, however, the people stood their ground. They began to shoot at the buffalo with the bows and arrows Old Man had provided, and the mighty animals began to fall. Legend recounts that when the first buffalo was struck by an arrow and felt its sharp prick, it cried out to its fellows, “Oh, my friends, a great fly is biting me.”
With the flint knives they had received, the people skillfully cut up the bodies of the fallen buffalo. Old Man arrived shortly after and offered further wisdom: “It is not healthful to eat raw flesh. I will show you something better than that.” He gathered soft, dry, rotten wood, creating punk, and drilled a hole in a piece of wood using an arrow point. He provided them with a pointed piece of hardwood, demonstrating how to generate fire with fire sticks and how to cook the flesh of animals, transforming their diet and their way of life.
Subsequently, the people discovered a particular kind of soft stone in the land. Using a harder stone, they worked one against the other, hollowing out the softer stone to fashion the first cooking kettles, further advancing their culinary capabilities.
An Alternative Creation: The Porcupine Mountains
Another revered account within the Blackfeet tradition suggests an alternative method and location for creation. At the Porcupine Mountains, Old Man crafted other earthen images of people. Blowing breath onto these figures, he brought them to life as men and women. After a time, these new people inquired, “What are we to eat?” In response, Old Man took more earth and sculpted numerous images in the form of buffalo. Once he blew upon them, they rose and began to run at his command. He declared to the people, “There is your food.”
The people then asked, “Well, now, we have those animals; how are we to kill them?” Old Man replied, “I will show you.” He led them to the edge of a cliff and demonstrated how to construct V-shaped piles of stone, extending back from the cliff with the point towards the precipice. He instructed the people, “Now, do you hide behind these piles of stones, and when I lead the buffalo this way, as they get opposite to you, stand up.”
He then proceeded towards a herd of buffalo and began to call to them. The buffalo followed him into the arms of the V-shaped trap. Old Man quickly ran to one side and hid. As the people rose from their hiding places, the startled buffalo stampeded forward, running in a straight line, and plunged over the cliff. Many were killed by the fall.
“There,” he announced, “go and take the flesh of those animals.” The people attempted to butcher the animals but found they could not tear the limbs apart nor bite pieces from the bodies. Old Man returned to the cliff’s edge, broke sharp pieces from stones, and showed them how to use these to cut the flesh. Of the buffalo that survived the fall but were injured and unable to flee, the people crafted strips of green hide, tied stones in the middle, and used these makeshift hammers to break into the buffalo skulls, ensuring their demise. With the hides taken from these animals, they erected poles and stretched the skins over them, creating the first shelters to sleep under.
Establishing Tribal Boundaries and Legacy
In later times, the creator meticulously marked off a distinct piece of land for the five allied tribes: the Blackfeet, Blood, Piegan, Gros Ventre, and Sarsi. He imparted a vital directive to these tribes: “When people come to cross this line at the border of your land, take your bows and arrows, your lances and your war clubs and give them battle, and keep them out. If they gain a footing here, trouble for you will follow.” This injunction underscored the importance of territorial defense and tribal sovereignty, a lasting legacy of Napi’s creation.
Conclusion: The Enduring Wisdom of Napi’s Creation
The Blackfoot creation story, as recounted through the deeds of Napi, the Old Man, is far more than a simple origin myth; it is a profound testament to the interconnectedness of all life and a guide for human existence. From the initial shaping of the earth from primordial waters to the careful placement of animals in their natural habitats, and ultimately to the creation of humankind and the establishment of societal laws, Napi’s actions resonate with deep cultural significance. His teachings on survival, the provision of tools for hunting, and the invaluable gift of fire illustrate his dual role as both a powerful creator and a compassionate mentor. These narratives continue to instill within the Blackfeet people a rich understanding of their heritage, their relationship with the natural world, and the enduring wisdom of their ancestors, ensuring that the legacy of Old Man and the creation of their world remains a vibrant part of their identity for generations to come. The enduring power of these legends offers timeless lessons on adaptation, community, and respect for the natural world, solidifying the importance of the Blackfeet cultural heritage.
