Chapter Six of the book: Sacred Wisdom of the Ancient Grandmothers
A Journey Through Names: The Blackfeet Tradition of Identity and Honor
Chapter Six
Sacred Wisdom of the Ancient Grandmothers
How Blackfeet Acquire Names
When Ba-Ti-Ga-Sa-Pi was just a toddler, he would escape his lodge and find his way to Long Time Pipe Woman and Chief Shot Both Sides' lodge about two miles away. They would take him home, and before long, he would be at their lodge again. Home was not pleasant for the little guy, as his father died when he was in utero, and there were two older siblings for the grieving widow to tend. The little fella just gravitated where love was abundant. The great-grandparents finally said he should just stay with them.
Ba-Ti-Ga-Sa-Pi used the name Father Middleton, an Anglican priest, gave him (and christened him) when he functioned in Caucasian society: Reginald John Black Plume. But his family named him Ba-Ti-Ga-Sa-Pi, which means Small Eyes, as an infant. When he was an active boy riding horses, a famous warrior of his people named Ko-Nah-Nee, Weasel Tail, gave him the name of Ach-So-Ti-Po-Kie, Good Rider.
When young Ba-Ti-Ga-Sa-Pi grew into an older child, his paternal grandmother, Pretty Wolverine Woman, bestowed another name on him. She named him Neits-Tsi-Meo-Ka-Kei-Nai-Key, Messy Back. That was a name of courage originating from her famous escape from a murderer in her younger days. Her back had become messy from rolling in the dirt and grass to become free of the ropes that bound her to a tree when her captor, also her husband, was away. She had been the unwilling wife of the deranged man who turned criminal. She later married Ba-Ti-Ga-Sa-Pi's grandfather, Sixapo (aka Black Plume), and was a loving grandmother to the child.
When Ba-Ti-Ga-Sa-Pi joined the Canadian Military in 1950, he was blessed with a very powerful name to protect him in battle during the Korean War. Stom-Ic-Su-To-Kahn, Bull Head, an elder from the Northern Peigans, named him Ah-Po-Kai-You, White Bear.
Upon completion of his military duty, Ba-Ti-Ga-Sa-Pi became close friends with the Chief of the Northern Blackfeet, Chief Joe Crowfoot, Is-Sha-Po-Bach-I-Kai. He was the grandson of the famous Crowfoot who signed Treaty Seven. He greatly honored his offspring. Another boy was named Spom-Ka-Spo-Ma-Pie, The Sun From Above. They completed their family with the seventh baby, whom they named Na-Tu-E-Sisk-Ta-Kie, Sacred Beaver.
