If it is true, as someone once said, that all things must pass, (and we’re not talking the George Harrison album here), it may be also true that they may not be gone forever.
Members the Blackfoot Confederacy, long-time residents of what is now called the Province of Alberta, have seen an important part of their past return to where is belongs.
It’s a more than century-old headdress that appeared destined to fade to oblivion in the donation bin of an Alberta thrift store.
Plains bison have not roamed free in southern Alberta for about 140 years. Traditional Blackfoot culture is based on the bison hunt, linking the First Nations people to the land (Molly Segal)
That it didn’t and has now been returned to its rightful owners is thanks to a heads-up Alberta Fish and Wildlife Enforcement officer named Phil Marasco, who received a call about it through a poaching reporting line.
Marasco contacted the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, which in turn put him in touch with Kent Ayoungman, who works with re-appropriated cultural items.
Ayoungman is a member of Siksika Nation, one of three Indigenous nations that comprise the Blackfoot, or Siksikaitsitapi, Nation.
“It was an amazing feeling,” Ayoungman told the CBC’s David Bell, of its return.
Kent Ayoungman of the Siksika Nation, left, is now in the possession of a Blackfoot headdress that was at a thrift store in Okotoks before Alberta Fish and Wildlife officer Philip Marasco, right, heard about it on a poaching reporting line. (Alberta Fish and Wildlife Enforcement)
“This headdress dates back quite some time,” he said.
“It was worn by significant people. It’s made out of immature golden eagle feathers. Our people used them for ceremonial items. It was made to stand straight up. That style is distinctive to the Blackfoot people.
“Traditionally, they come to the Blackfoot people from our sacred society, the buffalo bull society.
“The ceremonies that take place originate from that sacred society.
“Our people wear these headdresses for special events. Our biggest, most important time of the year, when all our people come together, that’s where you see a lot of these headdresses being worn.”
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley was given the Blackfoot name Braveheart Woman at the International Peace Powwow in Lethbridge on Feb. 23. (Terri Trembath/CBC)
Ayoungman says the headdress likely once belonged to a teacher in the residential school system.
“We don’t know. It could have been gifted to them, they could have bought it. It could have been stolen,” he says.
Once restored, Ayoungman says the headdress will be become part of the Siksika Nation’s living culture and used in ceremonies.
With files from CBC, CTV, The Canadian Encyclopedia
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