Tuesday, November 11, 2008

The Blackfeet (Niitsitopi) Creation Myth

The Blackfeet or rather the Niitsitopi, have a creation myth that features a character that is known as Napi, the Old Man. It was Old Man who came to the plains who made things the way they were.. THis does not mean that they worshiped Old Man as a god. He was just the one who put things together.
The story goes that Old Man came from the south. He was always creating new things and putting them in their proper place. One instance is when bighorn (elk I believe) used to live in the dessert. Absurd you think? Well so did the Old Man. He moved them to the mountains saying that they suited them better.
As I said before he also created new things. He made mountains, grass even new animals. Afterward he even made people out of clay. Then once he had done that, he taught them how to hunt, build and take care of themselves.
However, not every other deity liked Old Man's fiddling. They often got into fights with him but Old Man's good nature won them over.
He was also a bit of a playful fellow. ONe day after a regular day of creation and arranging, he stood on the top of a mountain and figured that he had done a pretty good job with the place. He decided to have some fun and go sliding down the mountain he was on. The marks that he made on the mountain are still present today. As a result, that mountain is known by Niitsitopi as Old Man's Sliding Ground. IN other words his playground I suppose.
As soon as he finished everythin, the tale says that he went west and that he would return someday to find things very different.

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