Buffalodance

Legend of the Buffalo Dance, The
by Alan G. Hefner
The lives of the Blackfoot Indians of Montana was tied closely to the
comings and goings of the great buffalo herds. The bison provided
their
chief food and material needs. The chief means of killing a great
number
of the animals was to drive them over a cliff and butcher them after
they hurtled down to the rocks below. The same method of slaughter was
used on the buffalo plains of Europe during the period of the great
caves (c. 10,000 - 30,000 BCE). On walls of these caves in southern
France are drawings of masked shamans trying to lure the buffalo with
a
lively dance step.
On the evening before the drive of the buffalo the medicine man of the
tribe, usually the possessor of a buffalo rock, took out his pipe,
smoked it, and prayed to the Sun for success. The next morning the
medicine man buffalo rose early. Before leaving he told his wives they
must not leave the lodge, not even look out until he returned. They
were
to keep sweet grass burning and pray to the Sun for his success and
safety. Then without eating or drinking he, dressed in buffalo head
dress and robe, set out on his mission on the prairie. Others followed
behind him and hid themselves behinds rocks which formed a V shape. He
approached the herd and attracted their attention. The animals would
then follow him into the shute. Then the other men would rise up from
behind the rocks and wave their robes behind the buffalo to stampede
them over the cliff and into a barricade built below. Many died
instantly when falling on the rocks, others suffered broken backs and
legs and had to be killed, but all were butchered for the meat and
hides.
Once though, so a Blackfoot story goes, the bison failed to go over
the
cliff for a period of time and the people were beginning to go hungry.
The buffalo would go so far and then turned away before jumping over
the
cliff.
Then one morning, very early, a young Indian woman went to fetch water
at the bottom of the fall from the cliff. She happened to look up and
saw a herd of buffalo grazing above. In jest she cried out, "Oh! if
you
will only jump into the corral, I shall marry one of you."
Suddenly the buffalo came hurtling over the cliff. This startled the
woman, but what startled her more was seeing a big bull jump the
corral
and come toward her. "Come," he said taking her arm. She pulled back
saying, "Oh no!" But he reminded her of her promise and showed her
that
the corral was full of buffalo and meat for her people. Without
further
ado he lead her away across the prairie.
The people were busy butchering the buffalo which had fallen into the
corral. They now had plenty of meat to last them. The young woman was
not missed immediately. When she was missed her father and relatives
searched for her. Soon it became apparent she was not among them. Her
father knew she had disappeared and taking his bow and quiver said, "I
shall go and find her."
He went up the cliff and out onto the prairie quite a ways till he
came
to a buffalo wallow, a place where buffalo came to drink water, lie
and
roll in the mud. He saw a herd nearby and being tired he sat and
rested
by the wallow. As he rested a beautiful magpie bird approached him.
The
man called the bird handsome and asked the bird for help saying, "As
you
fly about, look everywhere for my daughter, and if you see her, say to
her, 'Your father is waiting by the wallow.'"
The magpie flew straight toward the herd. There he saw a young woman
among the buffalo. He flew to the ground and pecked around until he
got
near her, and then he told her, "Your father is waiting by the
wallow."
This frightened her. She was afraid the buffalo might hear this.
Glancing around she saw her husband was asleep, and quickly told the
bird to return to her father and tell him to wait there. Soon the bull
awoke and said to his wife, "Go and get me some water."
She gladly took the horn from her husband's head and went to the
wallow
where she met her father. She asked, "Father, why did you come?
Surely,
you know, you'll be killed?" "To take you home," he replied urging her
to come with him. But she told him no, if she left then the herd would
follow and kill them. She cautioned to wait till the bull slept again,
and then they would try to escape.
She returned to the bull who drank. But stopping he said, "Ha! There
is
a person close by." "No! No! No one!" the woman said. But her heart
rose
up. The bull drank a little more, and then rose up giving a fearsome
bellow which arose all the other bulls that followed him in a stampede
toward the wallow. There they found the man who had come to seek his
daughter.
Then they trampled him with their hoofs, they hooked him with their
horns, and then trampled him again until there was nothing left of the
man. "Oh, my father, my father!" his daughter wailed. "Aha!" said the
bull, "You are mourning your father. And so, perhaps, you can see how
it
is with us. We have seen our mothers, fathers, many of our relatives,
hurled over the rock walls, and slaughtered by your people. But I
shall
pity you; I shall give you just one chance. If you can bring your
father
back to life again, you and he may go back to your people."
The woman turned to the magpie. "Pity me! Help me now!" she said. "Go
and search in the trampled mud. Try to find some little piece of my
father's body and bring it back to me." The magpie quickly flew to the
wallow. He pecked in every hole and tore up the mud with his sharp
beak.
Finally he found something white and picked the mud from it. It was a
joint from the man's backbone which he took to the young woman.
She placed the joint on the ground and covered it with her robe. Then
she sang a certain song. Then removing the robe she saw her father's
body lying there. She again covered it with the robe and resumed
singing
her song. The next time she removed the robe her father was breathing;
then he stood up. This amazed the buffalo. The magpie was delighted,
and
he flew around making such a clatter.
"We have seen strange things today," said the bull husband to the
others
of his herd. "The man we trampled to death, into small pieces, is
again
alive. The people's holy power is strong." He turned to the young
woman.
"Now," he said, "before you and your father go, we shall teach you our
dance and song. You must not forget them." For these would be the
magical means by which the buffalo killed by the people for their food
should be restored to life, just as the man who killed the buffalo had
been restored.
All the buffalo sang and danced. Both the song and dance was slow and
solemn befitting the great beasts. Afterwards both the young woman and
her father were charged to go and teach what they had seen to their
people. They were never to forget it. And, all who performed the
ritual
were to wear the buffalo head and robe.
Upon their return the young woman and her father taught the rite to a
select group of young men whom the Council chose. The ritual continued
among the Blackfoot association of men's societies called
I-kun-uh'-kah-tsi (All Comrades). Its function was to govern all
ceremonial life and punish offenses against the community.
So it was until the "iron horse" cut across the prairies, the buffalo
disappeared, and the old hunters became farmers or took the various
laboring jobs which they could get.