WHO ARE THE PIKUNI PEOPLE?

Although I include a glossary at the end of this work, here at the beginning I thought it might be good to include a little bit about who these people were.

The Pikuni are a part of the greater Blackfoot Nation. They are sometimes called the Piegan, although "Pikuni" is the name the Blackfeet people, themselves, more commonly use. The Pikuni are divided into the Northern Pikuni and the Southern Pikuni. It is the Southern Pikuni who lived in the Montana region at the time of this story. This region of Montana was written as "INDIAN TERRITORY" on the old maps of this time period.

Now, at the time period of this story, there were three bands of the Blackfeet that, together, comprised the Blackfeet or Blackfoot Nation: the Pikuni, Southern and Northern tribes; the Káínaa, or the Blood band, Northern tribes; the Blackfoot or Siksiká, Northern tribes.

All three of these bands were independent at this time period and were known to the early trappers by their own individual tribal names. But, because the three shared the same language, intermarried and went to war with the same enemies, it became more common to call these people "Blackfoot" "Blackfeet," or "Siksiká."

Today the word "Blackfeet" refers to the Southern Pikuni people living in northwestern Montana. Whereas, the word "Blackfoot" refers to the Blackfoot people in the north. But, because at the time of this story these people were known as the Blackfoot or Blackfeet interchangeably, I have chosen to usethe word "Blackfeet" as a noun and the word "Blackfoot" as an adjective. I did this for no other reason than consistency.