The Blackfoot Tipi
Works of Art
Tipis were used a shelter year round by the
Blackfoot people. They were made out of
tanned bison hide and stretched over
lodgepole tree poles. The two flaps at the top
that move are called “smoke ears”. These are
moved to help draw smoke out of the tipi and
to keep rain out.
The cover of the tipi is held together
at the front by small wooden sticks,
called “buttons”, over the doorway.
The tipi is stacked down to the
ground by larger wooden stakes. In
some locations, large rocks would
be used instead of stakes.
Most tipis were white or undecorated on the outside.
According to Blackfoot tradition, you could only paint
the outside of your tipi if you were given the design,
either by another person or the spirit world.
Tipis are always put up so that
their doorway faces east. This
way, the morning sun shone on
the door and the strong west
wind was blocked by the back
of the tipi.
The bottom of
the tipi design
represents the
Earth. Triangle
shapes such
as these
represent
mountains.
The design of the bottom of
these tipis represent hills.
The white circles represent
underground spirits.
The smooth design at the bottom represents plains / prairies..
The design
at the top of
the tipi
represents
the sky
spirits. The
lines
represent
rainbows.
The “cross”
represents
the morning
star (first
star to
come out at
night, the
last star to
go in the
morning.
The circle designs on the top of the tipi (on the smoke
ears) represent star constellations.
The middle of the tipi
represents animal spirits.
This is the bear design.
These are the bison design and otter design.
Deer Design
Bison Skull Design
Snake
Design
Horse Design
This is what the otter
design tipi looks like when
it is set up. On the next
slide you will see what the
cover looks like when it is
laying flat on the ground.
Go to this webpage for more information on the Blackfoot tipi.
https://www.glenbow.org/exhibitions/online/blackfoot/main_eng.htm
Or
http://www.blackfootcrossing.ca/tipiabout.html
Go through the next few slides to look at different designs.
These are black
and white
photographs that
have been tinted
with colour.
Inside the Tipi