People need to know that we are on the bridge toward allowing spirituality back to the Blackfeet. The ceremonies that we have today are like opening the door, getting a glimpse of something, and then opening the door again to find out if you really saw what you thought you’d seen. We have the Medicine Pipe Thunder Bundles here—two of them. That’s the most-often-used ceremony in our tribe. We have the Beaver Bundle ceremony here too. That is an old, old ceremony that was recently brought back to life.

I have taken care of two Beaver Bundles now. The Beaver Bundle includes the entire universe inside it. The celestial beings, the earth beings, and the water beings all interact in it. That isn’t the case with the Medicine Pipe Bundle. That’s more exclusively about birds.

Traditional Blackfeet spirituality wasn’t a part of my upbringing. At that time, Blackfeet spirituality was very much undercover. It was just elderly people secretly practicing the ceremonies.

Since we don’t speak the language, people think that the ceremonies are not the same as they once were. In reality, it has nothing to do with language. It mainly has to do with belief and music, which I guess is just a different form of language. The music was given to us Blackfeet people by all the animals, the birds, and the spirits of the universe. Some of our stories talk about, for example, an individual who fell asleep and had a badger come to them and give them a song. Then that song would become the spiritual ability of that person.

I see an assessment going on among our people right now. At one time, you couldn’t discuss any opinions. Everything was yes or no. That seems to be changing now. People are more open to talking about beliefs. I see that as the beginning to a better society. Within a couple of decades, we will have massive change.

I lived through a time when material poverty was the only way of life. I’m talking about a house without running water. You either had a metal tub or you cleaned up in the river. My lifestyle now is much better. I have been learning and practicing the ceremonies for 20 years now. It is a respectful way of living. There was a time when our ceremony people discovered alcohol, and everyone was scared of them. I mean, let’s say there was a person who could actually heal you if you were sick, but you went to see them and they were drunk. You would be a little reluctant to ask them for help. Now we are more responsible.

I truly believe that there are Blackfeet people who will pass through life without ever knowing the happiness of being a Blackfeet Indian. We went through an era of Indian self-hate. People didn’t want to acknowledge being an Indian. They had a lot of shame and a lot of internal sadness and they didn’t know why.

Indians attack their own people, both subtly and obviously. It’s called internalized oppression. The way our culture is designed—the way we are designed—is that we like to share our happiness with people. But if you start to make too many people happy, the internalized oppression on the reservation will turn around and create a jealousy among our people. They will try to tear down the happiness they’re seeing.

We really don’t communicate among ourselves very well. We don’t know each other. Our reservation has 1.5 million acres and 8,500 people, so some of us have never met each other or said “hello” or “I like you” or “I dislike you.” Somewhere in this last 100 years, we lost our connections with each other. There used to be a common saying in our community. Every time you’d meet someone, you’d say, “Oh, you’re my cousin!” Then people even started shaming that saying. They thought it was sort of a hillbilly thing to say. But that saying gets to the heart of our Blackfeet mind-set: We claim everybody rather than excluding them.

CAROL MURRAY

COMMENTS

Anonymous, on Jun 27, 2008 wrote: Under the current sheriff of Glacier County, there’s never been a more cowardly bunch of fellers than he and his deputies. Every other local police agency communicates in an honest and straightforward manner over the police scanner, but these clowns won’t. Listen to the scanner when these fools are in your area and you will see what I mean. Where the other agencies are not afraid to be heard, the Glacier County chicken shits go on “secure” to communicate the smallest details. It sounds insane for an election to be lost because of a police scanner, but Glacier County voters are ashamed of the sheriff’s crew and are speaking no vote during the next election.

Subject: You're right Date: Mar 17 2006 03:40:24 AM Author: Pikunaki Carol is pretty awesome! Subject: Carol Murray Date: Mar 12 2006 06:03:47 AM Author: RedFish Wish I knew Carol Murray. Smart lady. WOuld like to add that I dont think she was talking to whites. Who can? No, I think she was talking to Pikuni who need to come back . I think she's right. There are way more Pikuni that do Not know the old ways than those that do. I think she has reached a lot here and that is what needs to happen. We need to take care of each other. Who else will? Subject: why! Date: Mar 05 2006 08:28:08 PM Author: OGRed NdN gurl Why even talk about the medicine bundles when the white men don't even understand it and never will comprehend the strength of it.. anyways? To me this is much to scared to talk about to a bunch of idiots.......Got Land? Subject: religion Date: Feb 04 2006 02:50:39 AM Author: krysti Also, in regards to the religious comments in this article: I think that one of the best ways to feel close to God is to appreciate the beauty of earth. The Blackfeet reservation, directly adjacent to Glacier National Park, is a place where there are many places to reflect on the magnificence of God's creations. Even though the rez is very isolated, that is one of the bonuses, unobstructed good views (outside of town, that is). Subject: indian pride Date: Feb 04 2006 02:31:33 AM Author: Krysti I am a Blackfeet Indian with about 25% indian blood. I was born in Browning, and grew up on the reservation until I was in 2nd grade. After that my dad got his graduate degree and we moved out of state. When I was in elementary school I was really embarrassed to tell any one I was part indian because there are a LOT of negative sterotypes about indian people. For instance, once when I was in 6th grade I was riding in the car with my friend and her dad and he mentioned something about "the streets of New Orleans are so convuluted and confusing it's like they were drawn by a drunken indian." I just felt so ashamed and belittled, even though he didn't know that I was an indian born on a reservation. It took me a while to get over that and be proud of my indian heritage. But when I went to college there was an indian club on campus, and since I was getting a full tuition scholarship for being indian, I joined so that I could contribute to the education of white people about indian culture. It was really cool going around to the elementary schools and teaching the little kids more about the traditions of indian people. It kind of took me full circle from being a kid ashamed of being indian, to being an adult helping to educate kids about how actual indian people are today, while sharing the traditions of our ancestors. Subject: maybe Date: Jan 17 2006 09:49:11 PM Author: mercygraft "the heart of our Blackfeet mind-set: We claim everybody rather than excluding them" America is gonna die and it's happening in Bush We Trust but maybe later there'll be some people like the Blackfeet to salvage what's left Subject: BRAH Date: Jan 17 2006 10:08:54 AM Author: BRO "The Beaver Bundle includes the entire universe inside it. The celestial beings, the earth beings, and the water beings all interact in it. That isn’t the case with the Medicine Pipe Bundle. That’s more exclusively about birds." Why would you want to advance when you have a big ol' sack full of universe? Subject: wow Date: Jan 15 2006 03:26:01 AM Author: d jesus christ.