Kainai

The title of this article is ambiguous. Kainai is also the Lithuanian name of the village Voronovo in the Russian Oblast of Kaliningrad.

The Kainai ( Káína - "people of many chiefs", ie. "The haughty ones", English pronunciation: "G-ai-nah") or Káínawa ( Akáínaa - "many chiefs", derived from aká - "many" and nínaa - "Chief") are one of the three First Nations of the Nitsitapii (Blackfoot) in the south of the Canadian province of Alberta . The hostile Plains Cree called them Miko-Ew ("the bloody, who stained with blood", ie "the bloodthirsty, cruel"), the European traders and settlers took over the name and therefore usually referred to them as Blood or Blood Tribe . As they lived between the northeastern Siksika and the south / southwestern Piegan of the Nitsitapii (Blackfoot), they were often referred to as Middle Blackfoot .

Culturally, historically and linguistically they are closely related to the Siksika (Siksikáwa or Blackfoot) and the Northern Piegan (Apatohsipikani or Peigan) and Southern Piegan (Aamsskáápipikani or Blackfeet) . All four strains spoke (spoke) each slightly different dialects of the Plains Algonquin counting Black Foot (Ni'tsiitapipo'ahsin or Nitsipussin) and designate as Ni-tsi-ta-pi-ksi or Ni-tsi-ta-pi (Niitsítapi) (read: nee-itsee-TAH-peh - "The true, balanced people"). The Nitsitapii (Blackfoot) often referred to themselves as Nitsi-poi-yiksi ("people who speak our - the true - language") to differentiate themselves from neighboring tribes .

The total population of the four Nitsitapii (Blackfoot) tribes before contact with Europeans and three devastating epidemics is estimated to be 15,000 to 18,000 tribal members.

Naming and designation

Only the actual Blackfoot - the Siksika - referred to themselves as such, this name Siksika (singular) comes from the Blackfoot (Ni'tsiitapipo'ahsin or Nitsipussin) and means "black foot" and is derived from the words sik ("black") and ka ("foot"), which are put together using the infix -si- . The plural is Siksikáwa ("black feet"). The first Europeans probably first met the Siksika and transferred the word Blackfoot to the closely related tribes of the Kainai and Northern and Southern Piegan.

Blackfoot Confederacy

Territory and Members of the Confederation

Together with the Northern-Athapaskan -speaking Sarcee (derived from the Blackfoot designation as Saahsi or Sarsi - "courageous people, stubborn, defiant people") and (from approx. 1793 to 1861) with the Algonquin-speaking Gros Ventre (in Blackfoot : Piik-siik-sii-naa - "snakes" or Atsina - "like a Cree, ie enemy") they formed the so-called Confederation of Blackfoot (Blackfoot Confederacy) .

The traditional territory of the three great tribal groups of the Nitsitapii (Blackfoot) comprised large areas of the Northwestern Plains and extended in the north to the North Saskatchewan River ( Ponoká'sisaahta or Ponokasisahta - "Elk River") with Fort Edmonton (formerly: Edmonton House , today's Edmonton ) as an important trading post and no later than the middle of the 19th century in the south to the Musselshell River and Yellowstone River ( Otahkoiitahtayi or Otahkoi-tah-tayi - "Yellow River") in Montana. They also ruled the upper reaches of the Missouri River and roamed south to Three Forks along the Madison River , Jefferson River , Ruby River , Beaverhead River , Red Rock River , Big Hole River and Wise River in southwest Montana , and the Small Robe hunted Band of Piegan mostly south of the Missouri River . In the west, their territory was bounded by the Rocky Mountains ( Miistakistsi ) and extended in the northeast along the South Saskatchewan River to today's Alberta-Saskatchewan border ( Kaayihkimikoyi ), east of the Cypress Hills and the Great Sand Hills ( Omahskispatsikoyii ) in the southwest of Saskatchewan and in the southeast on the plains to the Montana-North Dakota border. The Sweet Grass Hills (in Blackfoot: kátoyissiksi - "Sweet Pine Hills") and Chief Mountain ( Ninastako ) were their sacred mountains. They named their large tribal area Nitawahsin-nanni ("Our Land"), an obvious word equation with Nitassinan ("Our Land"), the name for the Innu and Naskapi territory in the east.

Through the allied Sarcee in the northwest of the Nitsitapii (Blackfoot), the actual sphere of influence of the Confederation even extended to the parks and plains in northeast British Columbia and northwest Alberta, from the Hay River and Peace River in the north south between the North Saskatchewan River, Athabasca River , Red Deer River and South Saskatchewan River west of Edmonton. In the east of the Nitsitapii (Blackfoot) the (temporarily) allied Gros Ventre once lived along the Saskatchewan River Forks (the confluence of the North Saskatchewan Rivers and South Saskatchewan Rivers) and along the upper reaches of the Saskatchewan River in western Saskatchewan - until these before the with Guns armed enemy Cree - Assiniboine had to flee south to the Milk River in Montana.

→ Main article: Blackfoot

Kainai tribal areas

The preferred hunting and hiking areas of the Kainai lay between those of the Siksika in the north / northeast and those of the Piegan in the south / southwest and extended over the northwestern plains in the south and southwest of Alberta to the north of Montana. Once they hunted between the Red Deer River , Bow River , Oldman River , Belly River , Waterton River and St. Mary River west of Lethbridge in southwest Alberta , but they roamed north to the North Saskatchewan River to get to what was then Fort Edmonton (the Edmonton today) to trade eastward to the Cypress Hills in the southern border area of ​​Alberta and Saskatchewan, and westward to the Rocky Mountains, but in the middle of the 19th century they moved south to Pakowki Lake (in Blackfoot: "Bad Water" ), Belly River and Teton River, and Milk River , often migrating far south into the plains of Montana ; they traded with both the American Fur Company and the Hudson's Bay Company .

Originally before the great epidemics, the Kainai were estimated to have around 2,500 to 3,500 tribe members, but the smallpox epidemic of 1837 decimated them to 1,750.

history

See also: History of Alberta

Kainai Chief Stu-mick-o-súcks (back fat of the buffalo bull, George Catlin (1796–1872), oil, approx. 73 * 60, Smithsonian American Art Museum)

Their enemies included the Sioux (Lakota, Nakota, Dakota), Cheyenne , Arapaho , Absarokee , Northern and Eastern Shoshone, and some plateau tribes such as the Flathead and Kutenai . Their most dangerous and powerful enemies, on the other hand, were the Cree , Assiniboine and Plains Ojibwa, armed with rifles and advancing west and south-west on the Plains from 1740 , as well as the tribes loosely allied in the Nehiyaw-Pwat or Cree Confederation (also known as the Iron Confederacy ). Initially, the Blackfoot groups even formed a trade and military alliance with the Cree and Assiniboine in the fight against the Shoshone and Arapaho, who still lived on the Northwest Plains at the beginning of the 18th century - but later successfully moved south to the mountains and outskirts of the Plains in Wyoming and Idaho .

As more and more Nehiyaw Pwat groups moved westward onto the plains and the common enemy had been driven out, a long phase of fierce competition began around 1800, which often escalated militarily. In addition to the fur trade, this was due to the fact that after around 1730 both groups had adjusted their way of life to the horse, which they used as riding, hunting and transport animal and thus the sufficient supply of horses became a question of existence around the middle of the century. Therefore, the Nehiyaw-Pwat made contact with the Flathead and allied themselves with the Absarokee (English called Crow) in what is now Montana , who initially obtained horses from Spaniards, but also caught wild horses and soon bred them themselves. But since these two tribes were already bitter enemies of the Blackfoot, the Cree-Assiniboine-Blackfoot alliance broke up and bitter fighting broke out. Horse theft in this phase was not only a test of courage, but often a desperate contribution to survival, as many ethnic groups competed for the hunt in the grasslands. As early as the beginning of the 18th century, the Cree, mediated by the Mountain Stoney, had made peace with the Secwepemc (Shuswap) and Kutenai and incorporated them into the large network of the Cree Confederation (or Nehiyaw-Pwat).

The Nehiyaw-Pwat penetrated further and further into the territory of the Blackfoot Confederation, so that the Piegan were forced to move to the Missouri River region , the Kainai retreated to the Bow River and Belly River , only the Siksika were able to control their areas defend along ded Red Deer River . Around 1870, the Blackfoot's alliance with the Gros Ventre broke up and the latter had to seek protection from their former enemy, the southern Plains Assiniboine.

From the beginning of the 19th century, the number of bison declined for various reasons, and the hunters of the Nehiyaw-Pwat followed their prey, which from around 1850 was almost exclusively found in the Blackfoot territory further west and south-west. In 1870, the Cree made a final attempt to get hold of their prey by waging a war. Hoping to defeat opponents weakened by smallpox , they attacked a camp near Fort Whoop-Up . But they were defeated in the battle (near Lethbridge) and lost over 300 warriors. The next winter, hunger forced them to negotiate with the Blackfoot, with whom they made a lasting peace.

The Lewis and Clark expedition bypassed the area of ​​the Blackfoot Confederacy , with whose tribes the USA in 1855 and Canada in 1877 first signed treaties. In the USA this was the Lamebull Treaty , in Canada Treaty 7 of 1877, one of the 11 Numbered Treaties (numbered treaties) that the government concluded with the Indians. Treaty 7 covered an area of ​​50,000 square miles south of the Red Deer River to the Rocky Mountains.

The Kainai and their allies were to be relocated to the Bow River , an area prepared in 1878. But Chief Red Crow ( MÉKAISTO , also known as Captured the Gun Inside , Lately Gone , Sitting White Buffalo and Joh n Mikahestow , approx. * 1830 at the confluence of the St Mary and Oldman Rivers, Alberta, Canada, † August 28, 1900 in Blood Indian Reserve) by the Kainai had not been asked and he turned down the agreement. He chose the land between Waterton River and Saint Mary River to the Rocky Mountains and the Canadian-US border. During this time the buffalo was practically wiped out. During and after the treaty negotiations, Red Crow took over the leadership of several Kainai groups and became the leading chief among the Kainai.

In 1882, JD Nelson prepared an area for the Blood Tribe of 708.4 square miles. The southern border ran around 15 km north of the 49th parallel, the southern border of Canada. However, without further consultation, the area was shrunk to 547.5 square miles the next year. The tribe never accepted this arbitrary downsizing.

Kainai culture and society

The Kainai were divided into clans based on a family relationship and social societies, often divided into ages:

Kainai clans

Every summer all the clans came together to hold ceremonies or go hunting together and formed a large camp group. These gatherings became Akoka'tssini ("the time when all the clans come together and camp side by side"). In the late 1890s, the Canadian government tried to stop these gatherings, which are important to the Kainai identity as Niitsitapii, but to no avail. In an interview with Sákowohtaomaahkaaw (2006) some clans still existing today could be identified and by questioning the elders whose position is determined during the annual meetings in the camp circle ( Akoka'tssini ):

from the south side of the east entrance clockwise: Ni'táiitsskaiksi ("Lone Fighters"); Akaipokáíksi ("Many Children"); Pottstákiiksi ("Bites at the Throat"); Akáó'taiksi ("Many Brown Weasels"); Issíísoka'simiiksi ("Wear Tight Clothes"); Síksohkitsimiksi ("Blackened Lodge Door"); Inníípoiksi ("Buffalo Followers") and the Mamíaooyiiksi ("Fish Eaters").

from the north side of the west entrance: Siksínnokaiksi ("Black Elks"); Mo'tóíkkakssiiksi ("All Short People"); Mo'tósspitaiksi ("All Tall People"); Mo'tóísiksskiiksi ("All Dark Faces"); Áppiikaiksi ; Akáíksamaiksi ("Many Tumors"); Níítaaksisttoaniiksi ("Have Their Own Knives") and the Ípa'kinnamaiksi .

Kainai societies

Some companies (. Engl social societies ) do not exist today more but are still reminds of the Kainai: Sikapíí ( "Gray Roan"); Ikkayayota'siiksi ("Own Fast Horses"); Piiksíniota'siiksi ("Skinny Horses"); Soohkahkánistookiiksi ("Widely Pierced Ears"); Apiksístsimaohkinniksi ("Wear Beaded Necklaces"); Máóhksiipssiiksi ("Red Belts"); Spístsimokaniks ("Tall Hats"); Mióóhkitopikai'sspaiksi ("Rough Riders Parted Hair"); Issapóíkai'sspaiksi ("Crow Parted Hair") and Píítaikai'sspaiksi ("Eagle Parted Hair")

Today, only the following companies exist (Engl. Social societies ): Mamiátsikimiiks ( "Magpies"), Saaamiiks ( "Headdress Society"), Sisíksiiksi ( "Mixed-Age Society") and Asitapi Ikanakiskatsiks ( "Young Men's Society"). Sisíksiiksi was often incorrectly translated as “penny”. (Interview with Sákowohtaomaahkaaw, 2006).

language

They call their language, the Blackfoot , Ni'tsiitapipo'ahsin ("language of true, balanced people") or Nitsipussin ("true, real language"). However, of the approximately 39,000 Nitsitapii (Blackfoot) only 3,250 in Canada and 100 in the USA speak their mother tongue today, most of them now speak Canadian or American English as their first language. Some of the younger Nitsitapii (Blackfoot) in Canada also speak Cree.

Since 2008, the various tribes have been trying to get the Blackfoot language integrated into the local curricula for schools. To do this, many terms had to be newly created, for example to do justice to technical or mathematical issues.

Todays situation

In July 2013, the Kainai (Blood) Nation (Kainaissksaahkoyi) had around 11,696 tribe members, of whom around 7,980 were on the two reservations Blood 148 (30 km south of Fort McLeod, approx. 1,342.93 km²) and Blood 148A (on the Belly River , about 2.5 km north of the International Boundary , about 19.72 km²) along the Oldman, Belly and St. Mary Rivers west of Lethbridge in southern Alberta. The two reservations today form together with an area of ​​1,413.87 km², despite arbitrary downsizing in the 19th century, the largest reservation in all of Canada. In October 2018 there were 12,513 members of the 'Blood', of whom 8,415 lived in the reservations, 214 in other reservations, and 3,881 outside.

literature

• D. Donald: Elder, student, teacher: A Kainai curriculum métissage , unpublished Master's thesis: University of Lethbridge 2003
• Alison Kay Brown, Laura Lynn Peers with Kainai Nationals: Pictures bring us messages. Sinaakssiiksii aohtsimaahpihkookiyaawa. Photographs and Histories from the Kainai Nation , University of Toronto Press 2006

Movie

• Colin Low, Circle of the Sun , 1960 , 29 min 40 sec

Web links

Commons : Kainai  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Website of the Kainai Nation
• Blackfoot History
• Nitsitapiisinni - Stories and Spaces: Exploring Kainai Plants and Culture
• Traditional Stories , Glenbow Museum

See also

• First Nations history
• List of Indian tribes recognized in Canada

Remarks

1. ↑ Indian Reserves around Calgary - How and why to pronounce them correctly  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ the area between the North Saskatchewan River and Battle River (the name derives from the war between the Blackfoot tribes and the Cree Assiniboine) became the border of the now warring tribal alliances.
3. ↑ from the Blackfoot as omukoyis from the Sarcee as Nasagachoo and from the Stoney (Nakoda) as titunga called - are each all these names "Big House"
4. ↑ since the Siksika and Piegan prevented the Kutenai from trading at Fort Edmonton, the Kutenai Rocky Mountain House was built further west near the Rocky Mountains and thus the tribal areas
5. ^ Annis May Timpson: First Nations, First Thoughts: The Impact of Indigenous Thought in Canada , University of British Columbia, 2010, ISBN 978-0-7748-1552-9
6. ↑ Nitawahsin-nanni- Our Land ( Memento of the original dated August 7, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
7. ↑ MÉKAISTO (Red Crow)
8. ↑ MATSIYIPÁÍTAPIIYSSINI: KÁÍNAI PEACEKEEPING AND PEACEMAKING
9. ^ Ethnologue - Languages ​​of the World - Blackfoot
10. ↑ According to the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development : Blood ( Memento of the original dated February 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . 
11. ↑ Blood .