BLACKFOOT SHAKING TENT ¥ \ iy Claude E.Shaefier Ss Qa oetouaane OCCASIONAL PAPER No. 5BLACKFOOT SHAKING TENT by Claude E.Shaeiier OCCASIONAL PAPER NO. 5 GLENBOW MUSEUM CALGARY, ALBERTA, CANADA 1969 Reprinted 1980, 1987 ISBN 0-919224-76-8BLACKFOOT SHAKING TENT 3 ‘The Shaking Tent rite has been largely overlooked by modern students as a cultural possession of the Blackfoot Indians. Such an oversight is the more surprising in view of indications that the pre~ dictive ceremony played an important role in Blackfoot ceremoni- alism of an earlier period. Certainly it was the first native ritual to be witnessed and recorded in detail by white fur traders in the Northwestern Plains, During the closing years of the 18th Century, Peter Fidler, the Hudson’s Bay Company surveyor, and James Mackay, fur company explorer, each observed at first hand separate seances by Blackfoot mediums. Three quarters of a century later elements of what was evidently the same ceremony were seen by Sit Cecil Denny, while Clark Wissler prior to 1912 noted but failed to recagnize aspects of the native rite’s spiritual background. Tt was not until 1931 that Blackfoot conjuring was described and identified by Father John M. Cooper, who pointed out its relation to a well known, New World mantic complex. Blackfoot clairvoyance represents a Iocal occurrence of the Shaking Tent rite, one of the most widely distributed religious ob- servances of native North America, extending as it formerly did from eastern Washington to Labrador. Other Northern Plains tribes, such as the Gros Ventre or Atsina, Crow, Assiniboin, Sarsi, Kiowa, Chey- enne, Plains Cree, Dakota, Mandan, and possibly Arikara and Arapaho shared some form of the Shaking Tent rite, which also had been adopted by several tribes of the Columbian Plateau. The rite is an invocatory one, during which the performer is believed to summon with appropriate procedures one or more spiritual beings by whose assistance he penetrates the barriers of time and space. The Mackay and Fidler accounts represent important contri- butions to knowiedge of the Blackfoot Shaking Tent rite, recorded as they were at the dawn of documented Northwest Plains history. Each was based upon seances observed at first hand among th Peigan Indians in the Rocky Mountain foothills of what is now_Al- beria; that witnessed by Mackay held sometime prior to 1795, that of Fidler in January, 1793. Mackay's conjuror was a Peigan Indian, Fidler’s, a Blood. Fidler’s description of the performance is the more detailed and colorful, and is important chiefly for its mention of the true shaking tent, method of binding the seer, use of bison- hoof rattles, employment of a strange (spirit) language, the feast and his timing of Various phases of the event. Mackay’s version is primarily useful for its reference to an alternate form of medium concealment, the various types of information sought and secured by the scer, and the observer's conjecture as to the means employed by the conjuror to free himself. The two accounts suggest that there were variations in procedure among different conjurors at the time or in this case, perhaps, between Peigan and Blood performers.4 BLACKFOOT SHAKING TENT ‘The occasion of Fidler’s (H.B. Co, E 3/2)! was the continued absence of some young Peigan, who had set out several weeks earlier on a “diplomatic” mission to the Snake Indians. Failing to return, their relatives each day became more anxious about them. Finally, it was decided to request a “highly regarded Blood Indian medicine man” to perform some of his magic te determine the fate of the young men and to ascertain if, and when they would return. The Blood conjuror agreed to help. The account of his performance is quoted below in ful [he conjuror] was laid upon his back in the Tent and all his toes upon both feet was tyed together with strong sinnew. His arms was then put before him. & all his fingers tyed together in the same manner. He was then sewed up in a Buffalo robe & after this above 40 fathoms of strong line was folded about. him in every part to sceure him — not a part was to be seen but his head & it appeared impossible that he could never extricate him- self from all these bandages that confined him. A little square house or rather 4 strong upright stakes had been drove into the ground within the Tent opposite the Door & dressed moose, Buffalo skins, etc. covered it up impervious to the Day. This building was about 5} feet high & 6 long by 3 wide, all hung round on the outside with a great number of the dryed hoofs of calves, strung together in several bundles of 100 or more each which make a rattling noise when shook. The necromancer was lifted by 4 men & put inside this House all alone & the skins covered securely again over the part that he went in at. A rattle composed of the dry cod of a buffalo, with a few small stones within, was put in along with him. AML was quite mute & all attention in the Tent, surprising to relate that he alone in 20 minutes time had one or both of his hands at liberty & began to rattle; in 15 minutes more ‘he appeared to have extrieated himself entirely as by his voice he appeared to be standing upright & now began to shake the little conjuring house of his as if he was determined to shake it all to pieces. The rattling of the dry hooves made a very loud noise, the man now began to speak in a particular kind of manner & continued so 2 minutes, then again shaking vehemently his enclos- ure & continued in this manner alternately spealting in unknown jargon & rattling his little house for above 10 minutes, when he at that time announced that the Spirit had condecended to favour him with what answers he required to demand. He then told in a particular tone so as to be understood, that the Young Men would arrive in 2 days & that we must. piteh away directly to the Spitcheyee where they would join us, that they would have been here sooner but that the legs of some of them was sore & unfit for walking. This ceremony occupied the space from 1 to 4 1/3 PM, when every person retired from the Tent for a few Minutes while the necromancer clothed himself. We had then a sumptious supper of several dishes of meat on the happiness of soon secing the safe return of the Young Men. "This material is published with the approval of the Governor and Board of the Hudson's Bay Company.BLACKFOO? SHAKING TENT This rattle with a thunderbird design yas used during Cree shaking, tent rituals. It is jart of Glenbow’s ethnological collection, No. P9300. Fidler remarked that “whether at this time [the eonjuror’s] pre~ diction will be fulfilled the short space of 2 days will determine”; hhe added that he appeared “confident of his superior knowledge by fixing such a short period for the fulfillment of his mecrancy [sic].” “On the third day,” Fidler noted, “the young men returned safely, but some had legs swelled with walking® The Snake Indians had been good and generous hosts, and sent messages hoping that peace and harmony might rest upon their relations with the Peigans.” He went on to say, “Such is the result of the predictions of the necro- mancer the 28th Tnst. that these young men would return to this place in 2 days after his consultation with his demons. What opinion can one justly form of that affair? For my part I think it is more by chance than by any knowledge that he can pretend to.” ‘AL the conjuring performance observed by Mackay (Indian Notes), he was invited at night to the lodge where people had assem- bled for the affair. The naked conjuror was ticd hand and foot, so that “even his fingers and toes [were] fastened together.” He was then wrapped in a tanned moose hide, which was “also tied in every direction [so that] nothing appeared but his head, [by means of] fa line made of bison sinew.” The medium was then put into a small compartment partitioned off with a skin curtain in the tear of the 2The young Blackfoot Indians had apparently set out.on foot to raid the Shoshoni. for horses and being unsuccessful, had returned in the Same manner. Having become so well adjusted to an equestrian way fl life in the previous half century, they were indeed much fatigued by their pedestrian exertions.6 BLACKFOOT SHAKING TENT Jodge® and furnished with a bowl of water and a hide rattle. The fire was then quenched so that the lodge became completely dark. Soon the conjuror “was heard to struggle and talk as it some other person was with him,” referring to “the Spirit that comes to release fim and tell him of future events.” After singing, shaking his rattle and struggting for some time, he called for a light fo be made and then came forth, freed of his bonds and robe. ‘After resting and smoking his pipe, the medium sacrificed some tobacco to both spirits. Then he related the information brought to him. by the spirit, such as that the buffalo, very fat, were ap- proaching the camp; that the absent hunters would return the fol- jowing day with much meat; that a sick person in camp would re- covet? that a courier from the Snake Indians with a pipe of peace was en route to camp; and that the Pcigan must be friendly to Mackay und his men as they were the means of making peace between them and their enemies, ete. The explorer concludes by conducting a demonstration of the means emplayed by the conjuror to free himself. After his men had tied his hands with sinew, Mackay took a mouthful of water and dropped it slowly upon the knots until they became soft and slippery. Then forcing his tingers apart, the knots gave way instantly. Sir Cecil Denny (1944; 15), one of the original members of the North-West Mounted Police, described his personal experiences involving certain aberrant forms of conjuring among the Blackfoot Indians of Alberta in the 1870's. Sir Coeil observed, it is interesting to note, that tho Indian medicine men possessed, to his own know ledge, “wonderful powers of their own and some. of the feats they accomplished were, to say the least, extraordinary. Certainly those Which came under ‘my own observation, I could in no wise account for nor fathom.” Tn the summer of 1879 Denny (1944: 15) visited a large Blackfoot camp on the Red Deer River in Alberta together with his interpreter, Billy Gladstone, They entered the dwelling of a mecticine man at nightfall and found him smoking a long Calumet at the head of the lodge. Although ignored entirely by the Indian, the two men seated themselves and Denny placed two plugs of tobacco as a gilt upon the ground near their self-absorbed host. They sat thus for quite some time, when they were startled by the sound of a bell ringing overhead. The two mea could see nothing and the Indian continued fo remain quiet. Presently the tipi itself began to rock, even lifting, as Denny remarked, ‘off the ground a foot or more behind him. Commenting upon the number of poles in the lodge structure and the Weight of the buifalo hide cover, Denny noted that it scemed nearly impossible to lift one side, for no wind could blow a lodge over. The rocking motion ceased after a time and Sir Cecil went outside to see if anyone had been playing tricks on them, but no one was in sight. Upon Denny's returning and resuming his seat, ‘SFokn C. Ewers (1958:18) summarizes the Mackay description in his authoritative account of Blackfoot culture and history. fam unable fo explain his identification of the conjuring screen, however, as, “a {inl lent rected in the center ofthe lodge,” Mackay clearly descrives Has askin curtain.” ,BLACKFOOT SHAKING TENT ? the lodge again began to rock and so violently that it would sometimes lift several feet on one side, so that the inmates could see outside. ‘Denny's interpreter, he remarked, was thoroughly frightened by this time and he himself felt little better. Throughout this exhibition their host never stirred. Stating that they had seen enough, the two white men then left for their camp, both thoroughly mystified. In this account we have a demonstration of the shaking tent feature, apparently divorced entirely from the predictive rite itself. VW this perhaps an instance of Blackfoot legerdemain carried out with sly humor at the expense of the N.W.M.P.?* Clark Wissler collected information from the Blackfoot just prior to 1912 on beliefs and practices associated with ghosts. Certain of these traits form part of the Blackfoot conjuring complex, although Dr. Wissler at the time appeared unaware of their significance. Re- ference will be made to these data later in this study. ‘The next published reference to Blackfoot conjuration, so far as the writer is aware, is the very brief account gathered in 1931 by the late John M. Cooper (1944: 77) from a Peigan informant, Mrs. Joseph Brown, of Browning, Montana, According to this native souree, “the conjuring rite was performed by a sort of woman ‘spirit- ualist’ or ‘medium’. She summons the dead spirits (spirit?) and they come and answer questions. Only she can understand the langu: “40n another occasion Denny witnessed an exhibition of magic in which the bound performer was tossed upon a number of sharp-pointed stakes driven in the ground inside @ small tipi, from which he emerged unharmed and free of his bonds. Sir Cecil remarked that he could sce xno possibility of trickery in the feat. An obsewer af Blackfoot tent shaking practices was Sir Cecil Denny, a. veteran of the North West Mounted Police,a BLACKFOOT SHAKING TENT of the dead spirits and can converse with them. Duting the rite, peo- ple are all around in the tipi, A curtain is put over a part of the interior of the tipi, and the ‘medium’ sits behind the curtain. The lights are extinguished. Food is placed on a plate. During the per- formance noises arc heard ‘inside’ (apparently behind the curtain) and everything moves, including the tent itself.” Father Cooper (1944: 77-78) obtained further information on Blackfoot conjuring from an elderly Gros Ventre iniormant in 1940, who had it in turn irom a Blood Indian friend of Canada. According fo this second hand account, long ago when the Snakes still occupied the northwestern Plains, a party of Blood warriors set out towards the Little Rocky Mountains but never returned home. One of the Bloods in the home camp had a tutelary ghost spirit. So a pipe was offered the conjuror to summon his ghost helper. When the spirit arrived, he asked, “Why did you send for me?” The conjuror re- plied, “Our young men went on a raid and never returned. What happened to them?” The ghost replied, “Ill go and see. You may sing the song. Till come back and I may be able to tell you what has happened.” After the ghost had left, the people waited and sang the song. When he returned, they asked him: “What did you find out?” He replied, “I went clear to the Little Rockies and the Bearpaws. Between the two ranges, a creek makes a big bend and in the middle of the bend is a ridge. There your young men got ed.” In recent years, during the construction of a road in the area indicated, five skulls were found in a hole in the rocks, Cooper's informant believed this to have been the scene of the fight men- tioned. Additional information on the Shaking Tent rite was obtained by the present writer on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana in 1953-54.5 My informants were James White Calf, Adam White Man, Yellow Kidney, Harry Under Mouse and George Bull Child. These Blackfoot were acquainted with a number of conjurors from ast years down to recent times, and all had witnessed seances per- formed by them. None, except perhaps Harry Under Mouse, was really familiar with the finer details of conjuring procedures. sral mediums still practice their calling or did until very recently among the Montana Blackfoot. The rite scems to have been more common and the number of practitioners greater among the more conservative Canadian Bloods. One informant in 1953 listed ten or eleven active or once active in following that persuasion on the Blood Reserve. Several of my Blackfoot informants were generally familiar with the conjuring rites of their neighbors, the Kutenai and Plains Cree, and hence were aware of the variations by which their performances differed from those of the Blackfoot. The following accounts of Blackfoot conjurors and seances as- sociated with them were related by my native preceptors. The Shak- ing Tent rite is known to the Blackfoot as aiyakoKiviz,* referring to ‘Field data were gathered by the writer with the aid of funds pro- vided by the Museum of the Plains Indian, Browning, Montane. I am indebted to Hugh A. Dempsey, Glenbow-Alberta Institute, Calgary, for facilitating the completion of this article. = *Uhlenbeck and Van Gulik (1934:318) give pisatskasi, “to conjure,” and pisatapsini, “wonderful experience.”BLACKFOOT SHAKING TENT 9 ‘putting up a small tipi.” Here the reference is to the miniature conieal structuce of later’ times and presumably to the true shaking tent of Fidler’s period. The similarity of the word to the Kutenai term for the same ceremony, ie. “putting up the blanket,” is in- teresting. Yellow Kidney, of Browning, described a conjuror, named Glacier Bull, whose tutelary power resided in the sky and could be summoned day or night to predict the approach of enemy raiders, locate lost objects, and the like. His spirit possessed so much power that upon being informed of the presence of a skeptic, he would enter the top of the darkened lodge, tic up the dubious one so securely that he would be unable to free himself. The spirit would then instruct Gla Bull to throw a robe over the scoffer, from which the latter would then emerge with his thongs loosened. This would seem to have been an aberrant ease, since the seer died through over-use of power when my informant was a child, ‘The case of the male transvestite, Peigan Woman, was discus- sed by Adam White Man, who witnessed aseance given by him on the Blood Reserve about 1884 (Schaeffer: 1965, 223). The Blood Indians were said to have thought highly of Peigan Woman's conjur- ing ability. Treaty money was being paid out on the Blood Reserve at the time. Chief Beads lost the sum of $70 and asked the con- juror to help him recover it. My informant stated, somewhat skepti- cally, that the performer was bound and placed inside a miniature lodge, the light turned down, the sounds of movements and noises heard, the seer naming the ghostly being each time the latter entered the lodge. The seance was unsuccessful, however, the conjuror being unable to locate the money. This same informant had heard of the exploits of other Blackfoot mediums but doubting their ab had never attended their seances. Jim White Calf, an elderly Peigant who recently passed away, wit- nessed a conjuring rite many years ago by an old conjuror named Medicine Snake Woman. After Jim joined a Blackfoot raiding party in the Sweet Grass Hills, the group divided up to raid different enemy camps. Six of the raiders failed to return, so a seance was held by the elderly seer. The light was put out in'the lodge and her spirit came and left. Upon its return, the ghost said that the missing party had been located but he was unable to approach it, because of its “wildness.” A few days later another session was held. Again the ghost went out to search for the missing men. And again he re- turned, saying that he couldn't get near the group. The third time the spirit succeeded. It was found that all six had been killed and their bodies were to be found on Birch Creek in the Sweet Grass Hills. The following spring a group of Peigan went and searched the area and found the bodies of the missing men. This particular conjuror used to accompany her husband on raids and guide him through an enemy camp by means of her clairvoyant power.? There were conjurors among the Blackfoot - Morning Eagle, Bad Trail and Chief White Calf - who were able to predict future’ events by merely closing their eyes and concentrating. White Calf is said to have once recovered a diamond ving stolen from the wife of the Peigan Agent, James Monteith, by this practice,10 BLACKFOOT SHAKING TENT ‘Tom Bear, of the Montana Peigan, was reputed to have practiced divination as late as 1953-54. He was said to have as a spirit helper the ghost of a former Indian police officer, who was killed during the arly years of this century. He had been drinking at the time of his death and the conjuror once asked his ghost if he (the ghost), in Keeping with native belief, was still intoxicated. The spirit is said to have replied, “No! It wes my body, not my spirit that was drunk.” The conjurot then inquired if the ghost returned home after his death. The latter replied that he had gone to the ghost camp on the Maris River, where all of his deceased relatives were camped. The same con- juror once volunteered to arrange a seance so that the ghost could talk with his surviving son but the latter was too frightened to agree.” A lengthy account of a conjuring performance conducted by an elderly Blood Indian medium, Bufialo Chip Woman, was wit- nessed and related to me by Harry Under Mouse, of Starr School, Montana Blackfeet Reservation. In view of our limited knowledge of the modern version of the rite, it has scemed advisable to re- produce the account in full. This woman, although married, was said to have provided much of her own food by hunting. She died some- time before this information was recorded in 1953: Having learned that some people doubted her power, she and her husband gave a feast for some of their friends. After welcom- ing them, she agreed to give a demonstration of her clairvoyance and allow the guests to present any requests they desired. Giving ‘a clam shell to one of the company, she asked the latter to place 1 Bit of food, with four berries from the soup, in the shell, Middle Bird Woman did as instructed and then returned the shell to the diviner. A. smudge was made and the lamp extin- guished. The seeress held the shell over the smudge, then slid it under the cookstove. The lamp was relighted. She now gave a birdbone whistle to Spotted Bull and asked him to put the attached cord around his neck. ‘Then she announced, “I'm going to sing. When I direct you, go outside! Face the east and blow the whistle! Then face the south, west, and north, in turn, blowing upon the whistle each time!” Spotted Bull did as directed. Upon his return, Buffalo Chip Woman took her small black- stone pipe, filled it and placed it in the middle of the floor. She then retired to a comer of the room and sat down. She next asked her guests to partition her off in the corner by stretching a blanket between the two adjacent walls. She said, “After I'm ready, I will sing some songs. You must then turn down the lamp low so that the room is nearly dark.” The medium now started to sing. Soon the sound of a galloping horse could be heard outside. It was heard circling the house and approaching the door. Next came the sound of 2 person jumping off. At this point the seeress asked that the lamp be turned Iow. Then she spoke again, “Now he is coming in!” The company heard a thud at the door, which ‘SThe Peigan believe that if a person dies in an intoxicated state, his ghost will manfest itself in the same condition. An extravagantly written but possibly factual account of a Kutenai conjuring for a Peigan Indian, named: Mountain Chief, has been pub- lished by James Willard Schultz (1916:49-58).BLACKFOOT SHAKING TENT Running Sun, a Blood indian, sought the help of a Blood con: jurer to find a lost key. ‘caused a rattling noise in the stovepipe. The conjuror now spoke to the spirit, “Don’t frighten these people! I sent for you to ask something. There's food for you under the stove. When you hhave finished eating, I want to talk with you.” In a moment the rapid pecking sounds of the ghost eating from the shell could be heard. When they ceased, the conjuror asked that the lamp be turned up. The food receptacle was brought out and found to be empty. ‘A speetator named Running Sun then spoke to the medium. “My wife went for rations two weeks ago. Upon her return, she lost the key to our hause. Can your spirit locate it?” Now the ghost was heard to speak. None but the seeress could understand the peculiar, humming sounds he made. She explained, “The reason you can’t understand is this. After his death and burial, the worms crawled inside his throat and chest. So he can only talk in a peculiar way but I ean understand him.” As the spirit spoke, she interpreted. “I'm going out again! Each of you take a smoke from the pipe!” Middle Bird Woman lighted the pipe at the stove and passed it among those present. The conjuror explained, “This is the way I meet the spirit. Take this buffalo robe and be ready! Pull me from the corner and cover me with the robe so the hair side is out! My husband will then sing the song to bring me back.” The com- pany continued to smoke. Soon the spirit could be heard return- ing. The cry of an owl was now heard. Again a thud at the door marked the guest's reentry. Then the sound made by a bunch of keys striking the floor was noticed, (Here my informant inter- jected, “I could not determine whether the keys were dropped