By Maryanna Gabriel
“We shall move. We shall move. We shall move to Writing On
Stone.
There are many berries, especially cherries…”
Ullenbeck’s “Blackfoot Texts”
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| Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park |
I was glad I had come. I was unprepared for the impact of
the hoodoos. This area fairly pulsates. The wind and rain-sculpted sandstone
has created shapes that are animate and other-wordily in quality, many with
little caps. The area teems with pictographs, petroglyphs, and artifacts,
testimony to the spiritual regard with which the Blackfoot held this site. It
is said to be the largest concentration of rock art in Canada. I decided a tour
was worth it and I took an air conditioned shuttle bus with a guide to a
restricted area that I could not otherwise have access to. Camping is not what
it used to be. Our guide was Blackfoot. She had a real presence and I quite
liked her. She was about my age, wearing much turquoise with several long black
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| Hoodoos |
braids down her back that were tied together, a long skirt with cowboy boots,
and a park ranger shirt. She asked that we not take her picture and warned us
of rattlers. She told us that as a baby she was very sick and that the doctors
could do nothing for her. Her father took her out of the hospital and held her
to his skin on his chest until she was three. She thinks her father saved her.
She felt that because of this that the gift of her life was even more precious.
She told us how this area was very sacred and that she herself has done several
vision quests here. This means going without food, water, and contact with
people for four days. She says this is good to do especially when one’s life is
out of balance. She described what the petroglyphs represented and that the
area depicted art that was as old as 3,000 years before present and possibly 5
to 6 thousand years old. There is a famous panel that is a battle scene. In the
1800’s approximately 70,000 Blackfoot camped on the Milk River here with the
Blue Grass Hills of Montana just beyond. A great war commenced with Blackfoot
against the Crow and Cree. The Crow were known especially for their fast and
handsome horses. The Blackfoot won the war and maintained a hold on their
sacred grounds. She showed how the art in places reveals how many times a
warrior shows bravery by going up and touching the enemy, not killing him, as a
sign of courage and to shame the other tribe. These are vertical lines in the
rock. Stealing horses was another favourite past time and a way to humiliate
the enemy. She shows us a burial site and told us that the Blackfoot think if
you bury a body then the soul is trapped therefore the body is left in
protected
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| Natural Formation Called "The Table" On Milk River |
rock crevasses so the soul can escape. Later in time bodies were left
in houses in the open and the house abandoned. Napi is the name of Creator and
the Blackfoot, like many cultures, have the same myth of the great flood.
Circles on the tipis depict connection to the star people. The art narrates
contact with the settlers and the North West Mounted Police who had quite a job
keeping order as gold, whiskey and all the ails of civilization took hold. I am
shown either a covered wagon or a Model T Ford rock carving. Horses are etched
in which she said were made by the mounties a hundred years ago. I lift my head
to the south and I am astounded by the formations visible from a distance across
the Milk River. It looks like a temple. Beside “The Table” which I show in the
photograph here there seemed to me to be rock guardians around a central plaza
that rivals anything I saw in Egypt. It is all natural, nothing is contrived,
or fashioned. I asked if there were any stories about the formation and she
nodded but said nothing further. She said there was a thunderbird painted in
the rocks there that is a meter wide. As we were listening to her the heat just
came off the rocks in waves. Although I was protected from mosquitoes I found I
was being molested by a small fly that bit through my clothing, my pants,
around my neck, into my ear, and even in my nose. Back at the Visitor Center I
gladly fork over ten dollars for some Deet and I still felt I was being bitten.
I wonder what the Blackfoot used. Willow was a sacred plant for them and held
medicinal properties. I read on a plaque that they regarded animals and plants
as equals to human life and that these life forms were treated with reverence and
respect. Down by the river the campers of the day enjoy a cool dip and signs
warn to keep the gate closed so that beavers won’t get into the campsite and
take down the trees. That night I feel very unhappy about my swollen and bitten body but I think of the day with wonder and gladness..
