A Native Kind of Day

I spent the whole day yesterday at The Glenbow Museum volunteering with my son's class. They are starting a long social studies unit studying the Blackfoot Indians of Alberta. So we got to wander around the native exhibits and had a Blackfoot lady speak to us. It was really quite eye opening. She told us lots of cool stuff...like did you know that they used absolutely every part of the bison for something. The tongue became a comb, the bladder a cooking pot, the tail a fly swatter, the list goes on and on. A real "Bison Department Store" if you will!! They were pretty smart cookies, those Blackfoot.

I think that we should consider changing our calendar to their way. She explained that when the Europeans came here, they introduced them to their linear calendar which began in January and they thought those European folk were just crazy. The Blackfoot follow a circular calendar which begins in the Spring and ends in the Winter...duh!! Makes MUCH more sense, doesn't it. New Life = New Year.

It was all quite romantic and I envisioned myself living in a teepee made of bison hide, hanging out with all my women folk all day while the men were out buffalo hunting. The kids would be running around in the wild with the whole tribe looking out for them. We would bead our own clothing and have a pow wow every once in a while. I would be given my Spiritual name when one of the elders had a visionary dream about me. Hmmmmm, think I would be Hunter of Junk Woman???