Astronomy from theBlackfoot Moon

Welcome to the homeland

MusqueamSquamishTsleil-Waututh

Blackfoot Country

Traditional culture defined by buffalo hunting using cliffs & corals

The big sky is the always blue

When Sun retreats to his tipi, the star people become visible

The sky country was once joined to the earth but the star people pulled the sky and everything

blue away

The Sky PeopleFirst family of the sky country: Sun, Moon, VenusVisible planets are heroes: Scarface (Jupiter) also called ‘Mistaken morning star’; Cuts wood (Saturn); Blood clot (Mars) and Mercury (?)Constellations are families and the most important are the ‘seven siblings’ (the big dipper) they tell time during the night; the ‘lost boys’ (Pleiades) are a stellar calendar for planning buffalo huntsBlackfoot people recorded their astronomical knowledge in oral narratives (star lore)We paint our cosmology on our tipis and our ancestors left their iconography on the landscape

The sky world is at the apex

The lost boys

The seven siblings

Stone alignmentsFeatures a portrait of the first family of the sky. Sun is the father, Moon is the mother and Venus is their sonSun = Naato’siMoon = Ko’komiki’sommVenus is a ‘young man’ hence his name Maanikapi

Blackfoot CalendricsThe Blackfoot year was divided into two seasons: Summer ( Yiipo ) had six moonsThe first moon of summer began when the waxing crescent moon shares the evening sky with the constellation we called ‘the lost boys’Winter ( Ipakssaisstoyi ) had seven moonsWinter started with the autumnal equinox, which they called Aahkiaapiksistsiko or ‘going home day’

Beaver Tales and Tobacco Smoke

Blackfoot people usually buffalo huntersHowever, they did make an exception when they learned to cultivate tobaccoIn Blackfoot mythology, the lunar calendar and knowledge of tobacco cultivation were gifts from the chief of the beaversTheir calendar helped them time their planting

Reconciling solar &

Lunar cycles

Year one Year two Year three

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37

Solar years

Moons

Winter MoonsFirst moon of winter = Awakaasiiki’somm (deer moon)Second = Sa’aksi Itaomatooyi (ducks leave moon)Third = Iitao’tsstoyi (cold weather moon)Fourth = Misamiko’komiaato’s (long night moon)Fifth = Omahksiki’somm (Old moon)Sixth = Piitaiki’somm (Eagle moon)Seventh = Saommitsiki’somm (Deceptive moon)

Summer MoonsFirst = Sa’aiki’somm (Duck moon)Second = Matsiyikkapisaiki’somm (Frog moon)Third = Apistsisskitsaato’s (Flower blossom moon)Fourth = Ito’tsisamssootaa (Long rain)Fifth = Okonokistsi Otsitsi’tssp (Saskatoons ripen)Sixth = Iitayiitsimaahkao’p (prepare food for storage)

Moon Watching

They use this metaphor of birth and death to describe the phases of the moon Waxing moon = Inakoi (little one)Full moon = Iksistto’simWaning moon = Omino’toohsi (growing old)Last sliver before new moon = I’ni (dies)

Dusty Stars Lost

Boys

Miohpokoiksi

‘The Lost Boys’ aka the Dusty Stars

The lost boys and buffalo jumpsA family with several boys join the hunting camp but they arrive late and learn that there are too few buffalo calves to make clothing for all the children so only family with girls get the soft hides of new born buffalo calvesAfter the successful hunt the boys feel slighted that they will not get any robes for their clothingIn their anger they escape the earth and go to the sky countryWhen they get their they are found by Moon who intervenes on their behalf and convinces her husband Sun to let them stay and become star people

Blackfoot sky watchers Naked eye astronomers assumed the earth was flat and it was parallel to a flat skyworld

Calibrating the Buffalo year*** the lost boys in space

Organizing the night skyOral narratives and metaphors were associated with starsThe night sky was a massive mnemonic deviceEach star was equivalent to a personClusters and constellations were familiesStellar calendars gave people some control over their environment and thus they could plan well in advanceMoons created a calendar to keep track of time over long periods such as wintercountsMoon phases were time keeping devices