Filter
Exclude
Time range
-
Near
Niitsitapi mention, but at what cost
8
My family has always been tied to all this craziness so Im just happy that its all coming out & all of us are breaking those chains ⛓️ Love your information I know on my grandmas side they say their Blackfoot (or Blackfeet) Algonquian language as Niitsitapi (meaning "the real
2
1
17
Richard S retweeted
@CBCRadioCanada Niitsitapi artist Api'soomaahka and biologist Annie Ray combine traditional knowledge and modern botanical science to restore sacred native plants in Kainai Nation. 🌱🧪 facebook.com/share/v/1DtsbPH… In Alberta's wetlands, science and tradition are uniting to bring back a sacred medicine. Sweetgrass, also known as "sipatsimo," is currently under threat from ongoing drought conditions across the province.

1
1
14
"This powerful portrait shows Black Bull, a member of the Blackfoot (Niitsitapi) people, taken in the early 1900s. The Blackfoot Confederacy, made up of several allied nations, inhabited the vast plains of what is now Montana (USA) and Alberta (Canada), living in harmony with
1
1
41
Native American Women Song 🎵 Women Of The Great Spirit AHAYAH Blessing the water" A tribute to native American indigenous woman. I am a Blackfeet Niitsitapi woman warrior and we hold an importance roles life I am Native American Indigenous and we are one of the 12 lost
1
81
Sherri Lynn Pritchett 🐢 This is my Time Capsule retweeted
grok :The Blackfoot Tribe, also known as the Blackfeet or Niitsitapi, is a Native American confederacy historically based in the northern Great Plains, spanning parts of present-day Montana, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. They are composed of four closely related bands: the Siksika (Blackfoot proper), Kainai (Blood), Piikani (Peigan), and Amskapi Pikuni (South Piegan). Their culture, history, and way of life are rich and complex, shaped by their environment, spirituality, and interactions with other tribes and European settlers. Below is an overview of key aspects of Blackfoot life, based on historical and cultural information:1. Social Structure and GovernanceConfederacy Structure: The Blackfoot Confederacy was a loose alliance of bands, each with its own leadership but united by shared language (Algonquian), culture, and kinship ties. Bands were led by chiefs chosen for their wisdom, bravery, or leadership skills, often advised by councils of elders. Societies: The tribe had various societies, such as the Brave Dog Society or Horn Society, responsible for specific roles like warfare, policing, or spiritual ceremonies. Membership in these societies was prestigious and often required acts of courage or skill. Kinship and Community: The Blackfoot lived in extended family groups within bands, with strong emphasis on communal cooperation. Roles were divided by gender and age, with men typically hunting and women managing camp life, though both contributed to survival. 2. Economy and SubsistenceBuffalo Hunting: The Blackfoot were nomadic hunter-gatherers, heavily reliant on the American bison (buffalo) for food, clothing, shelter (tipi covers), and tools. They developed sophisticated hunting techniques, such as driving buffalo over cliffs (buffalo jumps) or using horse-mounted hunters after the arrival of horses in the 18th century. Horses: The introduction of horses by Europeans revolutionized Blackfoot life, increasing mobility, hunting efficiency, and success in warfare. Horses became a symbol of wealth and status. Trade: The Blackfoot traded with neighboring tribes, exchanging buffalo hides and meat for goods like corn or tools. After European contact, they traded furs with European settlers for guns, metal goods, and blankets. 3. Culture and SpiritualitySpirituality: The Blackfoot worldview centered on a spiritual connection to the land, animals, and supernatural beings. They believed in a creator figure, Napi (Old Man), and other powerful spirits. The Sun Dance, a major annual ceremony, was a time of renewal, prayer, and community bonding. Oral Traditions: Stories, myths, and histories were passed down orally, often through elders. These tales taught moral lessons, explained natural phenomena, and preserved tribal history. Art and Craftsmanship: The Blackfoot were skilled artisans, creating intricately decorated clothing, moccasins, and tipis with quillwork and later beadwork. Their art often featured geometric patterns and symbolic designs. 4. Warfare and RelationsWarrior Culture: The Blackfoot were known as fierce warriors, often engaging in conflicts with neighboring tribes like the Crow, Shoshone, or Cree over territory and resources. Raiding for horses or captives was common, and bravery in battle was highly valued. European Contact: Initial relations with European fur traders (late 1700s) brought trade opportunities but also disease, alcohol, and eventual land encroachment. By the 19th century, treaties like the 1855 Lame Bull Treaty and conflicts like the Baker Massacre (1870) drastically reduced Blackfoot territory and autonomy. 5. Daily LifeTipi Living: The Blackfoot lived in tipis, portable conical dwellings made of buffalo hides stretched over wooden poles. Tipis were designed for mobility, as the tribe followed buffalo herds seasonally. Gender Roles: Men were primarily hunters and warriors, while women processed hides, prepared food, and raised children. However, women held significant influence in camp decisions, and some, like Running Eagle, became renowned warriors. Games and Recreation: The Blackfoot enjoyed games like the hoop-and-pole game, foot races, and storytelling. These activities strengthened community bonds and taught skills like agility or strategy. 6. Challenges and ResilienceImpact of Colonization: By the late 19th century, the near-extinction of buffalo due to overhunting by settlers, combined with disease and forced relocation to reservations (e.g., Blackfeet Reservation in Montana), disrupted traditional Blackfoot life. Treaties often went unfulfilled, leading to poverty and cultural loss. Modern Blackfoot: Today, the Blackfoot continue to preserve their culture through language revitalization, ceremonies, and education. The Blackfeet Nation in Montana and the Siksika, Kainai, and Piikani First Nations in Canada maintain their identity while navigating modern challenges. Sources and NotesThis summary draws from historical records, anthropological studies, and cultural accounts of the Blackfoot, as well as their own oral traditions. For a deeper dive, resources like the Blackfeet Nation’s official website or works by scholars such as Clark Wissler provide detailed insights. If you want specific details (e.g., about Blackfoot ceremonies, language, or modern initiatives), I can search X posts or the web for real-time information or analyze primary sources if you provide them. fr
2
66
Estaban contemplando lo que siempre había sido suyo. La fotografía, titulada “The Eagle’s Lookout”, fue capturada por el fotógrafo Roland Reed en 1913 en el Parque Nacional Glacier, Montana. Este parque se estableció apenas tres años después de que el gobierno federal declarara el territorio parque nacional en 1910, territorio que durante siglos había pertenecido al pueblo Niitsitapi, los Pies Negros. La ironía de la situación es profunda y silenciosa. El Parque Nacional Glacier se creó sobre tierras que los Pies Negros consideraban sagradas, la región que llamaban “la columna vertebral del mundo”. En 1895, el gobierno estadounidense adquirió la franja oriental de estas montañas por 1,5 millones de dólares bajo una presión que difícilmente podría considerarse una negociación justa. Cuando se declaró parque nacional en 1910, los Pies Negros perdieron el acceso a los derechos de caza y pesca que se les habían prometido en el acuerdo. Reed, un fotógrafo del Medio Oeste conocido por su serie de retratos del pueblo Blackfoot entre 1910 y 1915, los fotografió con su atuendo ceremonial mirando al horizonte. La imagen transmite una sensación de elegía y engaño, capturando una presencia imponente en el mismo momento en que esa presencia estaba siendo desplazada. Los tres hombres en la roca miran hacia el lago. Sus pensamientos son desconocidos, pero sabemos que el paisaje que observaban ya no era legalmente suyo. Durante más de un siglo, esta fotografía ha circulado como símbolo de la América salvaje e indómita. Sin embargo, pocos se toman el tiempo de leer el pie de foto que acompaña la imagen.
16
183
528
16,346
No. But picture Niitsitapi Wolverine. Goes hard. Can talk about boarding homes, residential schools. Military inscription and being used as a human shield. Has so much fucking potential it’s crazy.
2
4
65
Replying to @nxt888
Tx, Sony. The Glenbow in Calgary devotes a floor to the Blackfoot (Niitsitapi). The Buffalo Jump exhibit has a diorama of a hunt, surrounded by artifacts, evidence, and stories of what the buffalo meant to them. Their inscription begins with: "Before the return of the horse..."
2
22
1,494
Replying to @nxt888 @0Calamity
*The Blackfoot Confederacy known to themselves as the Niitsitapi sustained a sovereign, adaptive lifeway on the northern plains for at least 18,000 years, a span confirmed not by romantic legend but by 2024 genomic research conducted in partnership with Blackfeet & Kainai elders &scientists from leading U.S. universities. DNA analysis reveals their lineage diverged during the Late Pleistocene & remained in continuous occupation of the same prairie and foothill ecosystems through ice-age transitions, megafaunal shifts, prolonged droughts,& every climatic oscillation the continent could hurl at them. Eighteen thousand years. Longer than any European nation-state in its present form. Longer than the United States by a factor of seventy-two. And yet, within a single human generation roughly 1870 to 1890 commercial hunters, enabled by railroads and hide markets, annihilated the bison herds that had fed them. From tens of millions to a few hundred animals. The ecological foundation of an entire civilisation was erased in twenty years. Then came confinement to reserves, the systematic withholding of the very rations treaties had promised. Starvation followed. Not as some abstract inevitability of life on the plains, but as the direct, documented consequence of deliberate policy. To wave this away with they probably would have starved anyway is not historical analysis; it is narrative evasion. The ten millennia indeed, eighteen of survival constitute empirical refutation. Blackfoot endured inter-tribal warfare, periodic famine, extreme weather, every hardship their environment produced yet their societies endured, innovated, transmitted knowledge across generations. What changed was not some sudden internal collapse. What changed was the arrival of an external industrial-scale extractive economy and a settler-colonial administration that first destroyed food base, then policed the survivors into dependency. claim that citing this deep-time presence is disingenuous because it rests on mere oral tradition collapses under scrutiny. Blackfoot Napi (Old Man) stories, long dismissed by outsiders, have been repeatedly corroborated by archaeology and now by ancient DNA. Scholars working in multivocal frameworks integrating Indigenous knowledge with paleo-environmental data have shown how these narratives encode precise memories of landscape formation, megafaunal extinctions, and long-term human-ecological relationships. Oral tradition is not infallible folklore; No serious historian pretends pre-contact Plains life was Edenic. Warfare, raiding, slavery, resource stress existed as they have in every human society from Sumerians to Vikings. The point is not mythic harmony. point is resilience: the same people who navigated those realities for eighteen millennia did not suddenly forget how to feed themselves. Their food system was annihilated by commercial hunters, their mobility was ended by reservation boundaries, and their survival rations were withheld by the very governments that had signed treaties guaranteeing them. To pretend the prior ten thousand years of proven endurance somehow predicts that outcome is to invert cause and effect. Sony Thang’s framing cuts through the fog with surgical clarity: the sequence is not coincidence; it is consequence.The ten-thousand-year record stands as living evidence against any attempt to naturalise a catastrophe engineered in two decades. Acknowledging pre-colonial hardships does not absolve the unprecedented rupture. It underscores the depth of the civilisation that was broken & the cynicism of those who would rather gloss over that rupture than confront it. History does not require us to romanticise the past. It requires us to refuse convenient amnesia about how it ended. The Blackfoot fed themselves across the northern plains for eighteen thousand years. Then a specific industry, a specific policy, and a specific power structure arrived. The rest is not destiny. It is documented dispossession.
5
154
It means the votes of : The Cree, The Dene, The Niitsitapi, The Tsuut’ina, The Saulteaux, and The Tsuut’ina Are worth LESS THAN the votes of: The Mi’kmaq, The Maliseet, The Wavanaki, The Mohawk, The Odawa, The Anishnabee. To name a few.

ALT Vote Native Voter GIF

Replying to @Nuni_Sas_Yu
Great. Now compare that representation to Sask, MB, and the territories. Ohh hey look, almost the exact same per capita representation, # of people and seats as the maritimes. Off by 1 seat. Are they not the west?
3
1
6
120
Replying to @JimMcMurtry01
From @grok Yes, it's true. The Lethbridge Correctional Centre (often called the Lethbridge jail) in Alberta, Canada, was recently gifted an honorary Blackfoot (Niitsitapi) name: 'Na'took'kyoo'soo'koo-koo'kaan', which translates to "Two Paths Lodge." westernstandard.news This was reported by multiple sources around May 7–8, 2026, including: Western Standard (the source of the post).westernstandard.news CTV News: A Blackfoot Elder gifted the honourary name to the centre.ctvnews.ca Other local outlets like Bridge City News.bridgecitynews.ca
1
4
210
Můj Indian Roadmaster je registrovaný ve městě Lewistown v Montaně. Zatímco 4. července 1776 podepisovali otcové zakladatelé deklaraci, která změnila svět. Na území dnešního Lewistownu tehdy panoval úplně jiný příběh. Niitsitapi (Blackfoot Confederacy) spravovali Judith Basin tisíce let. Lovili bizony, sbírali plody prérie a z každého zvířete využili úplně vše. Každý říční zákrut, každý hřeben měl svůj příběh a duchovní smysl. Toto nebyla pustina. Byla to živá, pečlivě střežená domovina. 🏔️🏹
35
814
david midthunder is sorta how i envision human!rocky. i think he is niitsitapi! during powwow season, he LOVES doing the sweethearts dance with adrian! powwow szn is something he misses a bunch when he leaves to go on project hail mary
2
1
45
3,157
Lily Gladstone /piitakkii has been captured to a Blackfoot niitsitapi society and has received her stand up headdress
1
3
6
84
In that honest, & truly productive space, we came together as Niitsitapi - Human Beings - without division, shining a much needed light on the devastating crime of human trafficking… Join us by signing at notinmycity.ca
5
52
Replying to @adam_louis52328
STFU Adam. Niitsitapi have been here since the Ice Age. There is no Niitsitapi diaspora-we were never conquered nor did we leave. We signed treaty which wasn’t honoured. The Jewish Supremacy in🇨🇦 is concerning considering Jews massively benefitted fr the genocidal 1876 Indian Act
7
169
Wolfwood, Livio and Razlo are Blackfoot (Niitsitapi) I’m genuinely surprised I don’t see more native Hopeland content
2
2
40
2,689
.@calstampeders' Dedrick Mills, Jalen Philpot, and Bryce Bell recently stopped by Niitsitapi Learning Centre as a part of our Classroom Crew program, playing a little flag football with the students! More info on the Classroom Crew: cflam.es/4bvrO8U
2
4
13
1,490