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Renata Birkenbuel
The winter solstice season is upon us.
On Dec. 21, the mainstream Gregorian calendar celebrates the first day of winter, but various Indigenous tribes honor the symbolic and noticeable change of seasons close to this time of year.
The Blackfeet tribe was willing to share with readers its sacred ceremony honoring the wintry season and its bounty.
The Blackfeet call the main ceremonial component a Blacktail Dance, sometimes referred to as a Jump Dance or Smokehouse Dance in other tribes.
Some tribes, like the Colville, do not allow photography or publication of ceremonial details because it’s important for an individual to learn by doing – with elder guidance – over a long period of time, said one Colville tribal leader who did not want to be identified.
Instead of following a paper calendar, the Blackfeet adhere to no particular date as the weather transforms from fall to winter.
“It just starts to happen and it can go all winter long,” said Leon Rattler, Blackfeet, a retired Indian Education for All educator and an artist based in East Glacier, Montana.
Performed inside where it’s toasty warm – and often in a private home – the Blacktail Dance remains open to the public. Anyone can join in, he said.
“It’s a dance where you’re dancing to the rhythm of the drum and different songs,” said Rattler. “But what you’re doing is you’re introducing yourself to the four new seasons that are coming in. And so you rotate in a huge circle as you dance around. You are just continuously rotating, jumping in different directions and with the drum, which is pretty nice.”
Customary regalia is not required.
“It’s kind of more home-grown,” he said. “You just go as you are and you enjoy the dance and songs.”
If a bigger venue is unavailable, a house with an ample living room will do. Rattler said he has attended countless solstice-related dances tribes hosted from Montana to the West Coast.
Customs vary, of course, according to tribe. But for the Blackfeet, in general, all age groups, families and community members are welcome to dance and ring in the change of seasons – even if it’s blizzarding outside.
“It’s young and old,” added Rattler. “I say old because you have to be able to hop around like a deer for, for a while, you know, so you gotta have that ability to do that.”
The Blackfeet Blacktail Dance ceremony naturally includes offerings of food and prayer.
“You’re praying for the new seasons that are coming in the summer and the fall, the winter, you know, and you’re asking for fish, water, you’re asking for food,” said Rattler.
“You’re asking how we can take care of ourselves in these different, different seasons,” he added. “And what’s important to us at that time, as far as continuing our tradition with recognizing the importance of what’s given to us by the Earth.”
Toss in the complications of climate change and celebrants increasingly have to adapt. Rattler said newer weather patterns affect the quality of service berries, a Blackfeet staple of the Blacktail Dance.
“We use a lot of berries in our ceremonies, and so some seasons we won’t have any at all. Other seasons, we’ll have such a storm that it’ll wipe out all the berries right off the bush.”
So the berries and their strong medicine are vital to a successful ceremony.
“But then, because it’s a huge part of our ceremony, it’s very important that we receive those.”
Nicknamed June berries, Saskatoon or Sabbath berries, the Blackfeet may dry them if the harvest picking season in July and August is poor due to uncooperative weather conditions.
Drying berries for preservation purposes remains an “old school” technique, Rattler said. Now cooks freeze them and make the all-important berry soup for the ceremonies.
“So it’s a good way to process this and be able to use them later. They make them into a soup and they give thanks to all the plants have given us as far as food.”
Solstice celebrations often include broader community events, such as school projects, youth basketball tournaments and a powwow to include everyone.
The Blacktail Dance honors the phases of the moon, too, and a basic survival prayer.
“We keep track of that as our calendar and what’s happening as far as the changing of the weather. Through these dances, this is what we’re thinking about. This is what we’re talking about, and this is what we’re dancing for. So it’s a benefit for the people.”
The Navajo-Hopi Observer described Winter Solstice celebrations in late December that typically include storytelling, games, plus culture and kinship teachings. Language workshops are especially popular.
Other tribes, including the Southern Ute and Navajo, include a different type of traditional ceremony called a Snow Bath for infants, according to a media post last November.
“The Snow Bath is a Native tradition for infants among some tribes, believed to bring strength and good health,” commented admirer Liz Lane Clawson, Navajo, on Facebook.
Another commenter wrote: “Long ago, they say the holy people bless the little one when they come into this world … so mothers would put their little one in the snow to have strength and wisdom when they grow up. And also (so) they won’t age fast … that’s what’s been told in the past by elders … that live up to a hundred.”
Nevertheless, Indigenous leaders take seriously the passing down of time-honored traditions. For the Blackfeet, community takes precedence.
“So you see all walks of life and all kinds of people and all that for the same purpose – just to enjoy the songs and bring in the new seasons,” Rattler added.
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