Distinctly Montana Magazine

ROCKY lished as a “domestic sovereign” Indian Nation by the Treaty of 1855. Today, the Blackfeet Reservation comprises a mere 1.5 million acres, bounded by Alberta, Canada, to the north, Lewis and Clark Forest to the south, Glacier National Park to the west and Toole County to the east. These sacred grounds, used for hundreds of years for vision quests, spiritual retreats, and other cultural purposes, are wonderfully viewed and enjoyed from the Lodgepole Gallery and Tipi Village, (lo- cated just two and a half miles north of Browning). Here, Dar- rell Norman, a traditional artist and Blackfeet tribal member, and his European born wife, front mountain ARTICLE AND PHOTOS BY KIM THIELMAN-IBES passes on his lifelong passion for Blackfeet and Northern Plains culture through his historical and cultural tours. On these tours, Curly Bear explains the traditions and history behind many sacred sites located on the Blackfeet Na- tion. He talks of buffalo jumps, tipi rings, the sun dance lodge, and he talks about the reasons behind the starva- “We pay homage to the inhabitants that were here before us; life after all is an evolution.” Angelika, provide an opportunity to learn more about the culture. Sleep in authentic Blackfeet canvas tipis and after a traditional meal of perhaps buffalo, deer, elk, or fish, gather around the campfire for stories, drumming, and singing. As you gaze upon star-studded skies, coyotes howl in the distance and cool air shoots down from the peaks of Glacier National Park stirring the crackling fire pit. “We have a very strong oral and sacred tradition associ- ated with the Crown of the Rockies,” says Curly Bear Wag- ner, a celebrated Blackfeet historian and cultural leader and Director of the Going-to-the-Sun Institute. Curly Bear tion winter of 1883-1884, during which 600 people died because government rations failed to arrive. Curly Bear connects you with the land and its people in the same way that his ancestors have been doing for thousands of years. His tours depart from the Museum of the Plains Indians in Browning. While the Blackfeet Heritage Center may not look like much from the outside, currently housed in what used to be Bob Scrivers’ gallery, it is well worth your time. Here lies the opportunity to broaden your understanding of these First People’s way of life through the center’s tremendous www.distinctlymontana.com 19

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