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blackfeet Scarface Introduction by Theresa Schenck The Blackfeet are a group of confederated tribes: the Siksika, or Blackfoot; the Kainaa,or Bloods; and the Pikuni,or Piegans,who are furtherdivided by the fortyninth parallel into Northern and Southern Piegans. Their territory, which once extended from the North Saskatchewan River in Alberta to the Missouri River in Montana, is today reduced to three reserves in Canada and one in the United States. The term Blackfeet refers to the inhabitants, mostly Southern Piegans, of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana. The Blackfeet speak a language of the Central Algonquian stock, although it differs greatly from the others of the same stock. The number of Blackfeet who speak the language fluently in the United States is now estimated to be fewer than one hundred, but the language is currently being taught in the public schools on the reservation and in the Blackfeet Community College in Browning, Montana, and it is hoped that soon a new generation of native speakers will emerge. A private school in Browning, the Piegan Institute, is also contributing to the revival of the Blackfeet language through its program of total immersion. The Scarface story is at thevery heart of Blackfeet culture. It explains the origin of some of the practices that are central to our spiritual life: purification, cleansing , and renewal through the sweat; healing, sacrifice, and thanksgiving through the Medicine Lodge; and the sacred role of women in Blackfeet society. Because it is a living story, there have been many versions of the Scarface myth, none of them definitive. One of the earliest is that of George Bird Grinnell in Blackfeet Lodge Tales, published in 1892. He does not identify the specific source of this story but rather mentions all his informants in his introduction. Clark Wissler and his Blackfeet collaborator David Duvall included two versions of the myth, one by a Piegan man, the other by a Piegan woman, in their Mythology of the Blackfoot , published in 1908.Walter McClintock’s narrative, titled ‘‘The Legend of Poïa, the Christ Story of the Blackfeet,’’ was related to him by his adoptive father, Mad Wolf, and published in 1910 in The Old North Trail. More recently, Percy Bull Child has devoted a whole section to an expanded version of the Scarface story, ‘‘Honoring Creator Sun,’’ in his book The Sun Came Down, published in 1985. Scarface, the young man disfigured by a scar across his face, represents man in his most pitiful state. He is poor and alone; he is poor because he is alone, with- 496 blackfeet out relatives or kin. But most of all he is weak, in need of help. Rejected by the beautiful girl he wants to marry, he then turns to the Sun, who has the power to heal. All versions of the story mention the young man’s offensive smell and the Sun’s response: to smudge him with cedar. This is the first step toward cleansing and becoming whole. But the Sun does not look favorably on this earthling. It is his wife, the Moon, who intercedes for Scarface, and thus it is through her influence that the Sun pities the young man and agrees to help him. The Sun’s heat is the power that can not only cleanse and purify, but also heal, and the Sun’s instrument is the Sweat Lodge, whose heat removes the scar and transforms Scarface into the image of Morning Star, son of the Sun. Scarface becomes companion to Morning Star and on one of their hunting expeditions , saves him from seven vicious birds by killing all of them. In gratitude the Sun gives Scarface that most sacred of all ceremonies, the Medicine Lodge, with instructions on how to perform it, and especially on the role of his wife in all the essential aspects of the ceremony. He also gives him a bundle containing the suit he will wear in the ceremony, decorated with seven black stripes on the sleeves and leggings and a disk representing the Sun. For his wife there is an elkskin dress and two black raven feathers, Raven being recognized as having great wisdom and power coming from the Sun. It is no accident that the Sun describes a special role for the woman who will become the wife of Scarface. Just as the Sun listens to and honors his wife, the Moon, so must Scarface share his power with his wife...

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