Piikani woman inspired by need to share, teach

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"When I was a child of five years, a bracelet and necklace from a Medicine Pipe Bundle were transferred to me. Since then, I have followed traditional Blackfoot customs, such as praying and fasting, Sun dances and other sacred ceremonies. This way of living has been a source of strength throughout my life and it will continue to be so in the future. I have not lost my Blackfoot culture, traditions and beliefs."

So writes Caroline Yellow Horn in her first collection of short stories about traditional Blackfoot ways and what they mean in her life.

Yellow Horn was given the name of Naatoyiohsokaakiiwa (translated it means Medicine Trails Woman) in honor of her great grandmother, whose name was Medicine Trails.

Yellow Horn's book Niipaitapiiyssin (Life) was published in November and launched with a book signing at a small book store in Lethbridge, Alta., just east of the Piikani Nation from where Yellow Horn hails.

The book is the result of nearly 20 years of planning and thinking.

It was in 1983 when her grandfather passed away that Yellow Horn began toying with the idea of writing her people's stories.

In 1986 when she moved to Red Deer, the need became obvious.

"That was when I realized how many Aboriginal young people and children didn't know anything about our culture, our traditions, our beliefs."

Yellow Horn had assumed because she grew up knowing her people's ways that others in the Piikani Nation were also tuned into their Blackfoot traditions and way of life.

"I had an epiphany... and it motivated me to write the book," she said.

Helping her along the way were university papers, which said that her people had lost their ways and lost their traditions.

"I hadn't lost it. This book is about how the Blackfoot way is the way of me, my children and my grandchildren."

Niipaitapiiyssin is a collection of 38 stories, some of which are a single page. All are interwoven with Yellow Horn's experiences and how the traditional Blackfoot ways are an integral part of her life.

In Helping Yourself, Yellow Horn relates the importance that fasting and praying plays in her life.

"I sometimes have difficulty in letting go of past injustices of what was said or done to me. I feel that fasting helped me gain the courage and strength to let go... I still fast but usually to energize and keep balance in my life."

In Rituals, she talks about smudging.

"I find doing this means that your home feels peaceful and I sleep better when I smudge my house and myself consistently. I also smudge my car regularly."

After graduating from the University of Lethbridge in 2000 with a degree in Arts and Sciences, having double majored in English and Native Studies, Yellow Horn returned to the Piikani Nation. She began working in home care at the Piikani Health Services.

"I missed the thinking. I started typing my stories then."

In 2001 she attended a Sun dance ceremony on the Blood reserve. There she met someone from Vision Images, a publishing company out of Edmonton.

"I just had a good feeling. I don't know if that's how you choose someone to publish your book," she said.

But she did and hasn't regretted it. Working closely with two editors, Yellow Horn holds that her book "sounds like me. To me that was important."

Yellow Horn, written in English, sees her target audience as the Blackfoot children and youth, who don't know their language or their ways.

But, she added, "I think it will appeal to just about everybody."

Eventually, Yellow Horn would like to translate the book into Blackfoot, so it can be read in Blackfoot classes.

With 50 books sold at her signing when the book was launched, Yellow Horn has been thinking about writing more.

Her second book will be about her grandfather John Yellow Horn, who was lifetime chief for the Piikani Nation. She's working with her father Ed Yellow Horn on this project. And another book of short stories is in the works.