Black Plume's Weasel People, The Last Bastion of Native Ways

Black Plume's Weasel People

The Last Bastion of Native Ways

By Sharon A. Oakley

Introduction

Sharon "Spirit Dancer" Oakley entered the arbor at the 2002 Arlee Montana 4th of July Salish PowWow, absorbing the energy and unison of the graceful and colorful Native dancers. Camping on the PowWow grounds with her Siberian Timberwolf, Usti Waya, for four days, she danced Traditional Women's dancing in the non-competition genre.

After the Arlee PowWow, she returned to her camp by the beautiful and pristine glacier lake on the reservation and continued her healing from the past through meditation and prayer. It was a time of great enlightenment, without technology, as she absorbed the beauty of nature while living in a tent. Although there were plenty of black bears wandering around the vicinity, Usti Waya (Udi) kept her safe and actually made friends with the bears.

She looked forward to the next event on the PowWow Trail: the upcoming Blackfeet Indian Days Celebration in Browning, Montana. She drove across the reservation and into the high plains to the Blackfeet Reservation, where she set up camp early.

The gentleman known as the sacred elder of the Kana Blackfeet also arrived early and drove his vehicle right up to Ms. Oakley's campsite. He parked his car and observed her silently. She wondered if she had inadvertently camped in an elder's regular camping spot. But shortly afterward, the old man approached her and asked if she had a hammer he could use to drive his tent stakes into the ground. Of course, she had one he could use. But wouldn't a seasoned PowWow attendee have all the tools required?

It turned out that Black Plume had attended the Arlee PowWow and attempted to meet Sharon in vain. When he left, he vowed that he would meet her at another PowWow. Something about Ms. Oakley had caught his attention. She was the living embodiment of his grandmothers, Long Time Pipe Woman and Pretty Wolverine Woman. Something moved him to meet this woman, as there was a promise he had made to Long Time Pipe Woman that perhaps this lady could fulfill.

She had made her great-grandson, Black Plume, promise her that he would help their people return to the knowledge of their old ways and spiritual practices. She had seen how their tribal kin and friends had strayed away and perceived that, as time passed, they would be lost. Black Plume, having rudimentary English-language skills and sparse writing abilities, could not sufficiently fulfill her request. It was perhaps those grandmothers, nudging him from their higher realms, who inspired him to make contact with Ms. Oakley, as she was the perfect person to write that book that would help their people return to the knowledge of the old ways.

Having made their acquaintance at the Browning Blackfeet PowWow, Black Plume visited Ms. Oakley at her magical healing camp by the pristine Flathead Lake. Black Plume would walk to the shoreline of her camp and feel the information coming to him with each wave—the songs of the ancient water spirits. He would relate the information to Ms. Oakley, and she blended her Tsalagi tribal understanding to create a record of remembering the power of the ancient ways of the Indigenous peoples of North America.