Blackfoot Religion and the Consequences of Cultural Commoditization by Kenneth Hayes Lokensgard

Author:Kenneth Hayes Lokensgard
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781317173793
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2016-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

The Ceremonial Transfer of Bundles

One of the most important features of the traditional Blackfoot religious life is that the bundles and the responsibilities of caring for them are transferable. This, of course, is what allows us to consider bundles as exchange items. Because these particular exchange items are powerful living beings, and, because they are regularly transferred as gifts (just as they were originally gifts from, and embodiments of, other beings), they are at the very center of Blackfoot religious culture. When bundles are transferred, the relationships that humans have with the powerful beings embodied in the bundles and with each other are widened. John Murray says simply that “transfers … are everything.”127 He says this because the transfers, pommakssiistsi, help humans orient themselves to the other human and nonhuman beings of the cosmos, upon whom they depend for their social identities and physical well-being, as bundle keepers and partners in cosmic exchange.128 Betty Bastien, drawing from her own interviews with elders, explains this in another way. She says that transfers bring Blackfoot “ontology, epistemology, and pedagogy together through methods of transmitting sacred responsibilities and knowledge from generation to generation.”129

The ritual practice of transfer thus impacts individuals within Blackfoot society, including other-than-human beings, but it also impacts the larger society of the cosmos at the same time. Most important, this “practical logic” places people in positions where they are given access to the power of other-than-human beings and become partly responsible for the distribution of that power so as to benefit others. The intent displayed by all parties who choose to participate in the medicine bundle complex thus results in a commitment to act in a socially responsible manner toward the rest of the cosmos.130

Established bundles can be acquired in numerous ways since most are ideally passed on to new keepers every four to ten years as a means of ensuring that relations with the embodied beings are continually maintained.131 The individual seeking a bundle may openly approach a keeper who is ready to give up his bundle or even steal one in a highly ritualized manner.132 The concept of ritual “theft” is one that provides experienced keepers with a course of action if they find that a transferred bundle is not being cared for properly.133 Similarly, a bundle keeper may force the care of a bundle upon another worthy candidate, if he and his family can no longer fulfill their responsibilities as caretakers and they feel that others may be better prepared to do so.134 In most cases, a prospective keeper vows to acquire a major bundle in return for help from the other-than-human persons in dealing with family problems, illnesses, or other concerns. The prospective keeper who has made such a vow then approaches a current bundle keeper in hopes that he or she might acquire and care for the bundle. The current bundle keeper must take all such requests very seriously, and if the prospective keeper appears to be a strong candidate for the position, the bundle

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