Voices from our Past: Blood Elder first in Alberta to organize Indian Days

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Sitting in his favorite armchair, Blood Elder Wallace Mountain Horse Sr. reflects on his life and the Kainai Indian Days.

Mountain Horse, a spiritual leader with the sacred Horn Society since the passing of distinguished Elder Mark Old Shoes Sr. last winter, comes from a family deeply committed to Blood religion and culture. He was a member of the Horn Society, a Blood religious society, for 21 years before they transferred their sacred bundles to a new group headed by Adam Delaney.

Well-known as a vocal Blood councillor from 1970-74, Mountain Horse also volunteered many hours in community service to the betterment of Moses Lake. The community is located on the outskirts of Cardston at the southwest corner of the Blood Reserve.

But one of the most interesting parts in Mountain Horse's life was his stint as a traditional chicken dancer and hoop dancer. Mountain Horse smiles, "yes, I started dancing when I was five years old but just for pleasure. I never participated in competition dancing except once."

"That was at the Sundance (a sacred gathering of Blood religious societies each summer near the Belly Buttes) when the Circle of the Sun was being filmed," he continued, "they had over 200 dancers and that was the first time dance competitions were held on the Blood Reserve.

"I was beat by Jeffrey Bull Shields (who was over 20 years younger) because he copied my style and I dropped a hoop during the competition," he laughed.

In 1967, Mountain Horse left his dancing days behind and devoted his efforts towards organizing Kainai Indian Days in his spare time.

With Bloods such as Dan Weasel Moccasin, Allan Spear Chief, Pete Standing Alone, Charlie Bull Shields, and the late Jim Bottle and Jim Prairie Chicken, they organized the Kainai Indian Days for the first eight years of its existence.

Mountain Horse said the Indian Days concept was originally adopted from the nearby Peigan Tribe who were the first Indian band in Canada to host Indian Days celebrations. The idea was to promote goodwill between band members and visiting tribes through feasts, visiting and parades in a teepee encampment.

When the Blood tribe chief and council first debated whether they should adopt the Indian Days concept in the early 1960s, one councillor was adamantly opposed to the idea. Mountain Horse said the late Gerald Tail Feathers, a renowned Blood artist, feared Indian Days would ruin the Indian way of life.

Because dance competitions were traditionally not a part of the Blood culture, the late Tail Feathers felt Indian Days would eventually focus too much on dance competitions. Instead of attending Indian Days celebrations to visit friends and relatives and make new friends, Tail Feathers foresaw a time when one could choose which Indian Days to attend by the amount of prize money offered for various dance competitions.

Mountain Horse said Tail Feathers predicted that Native dancing would become less important.

"He was right," said Mountain Horse. "A regular Indian Dance that offers no prize money for dancers is not attractive than one that has lots of money for competition dances."

Originally Native dances were sponsored by various social and religious societies during special holidays on the Blood reserve for sheer enjoyment. Dances started about supper time and went into the early hours of the morning, said Mountain Horse.

Despite Tail Feather's opposition, the Blood tribe chief and council adopted the Indian Days concept in the '60s. Under the leadership of Mountain Horse and his committee, the first Kainai Indian Days at Red Crow Park was held during Canada's centennial year in 1967.

Mountain Horse and his committee were careful to instill the true spirit of Indian Days ? feasts, dances, visiting and parades.

He is proud of the way he and his committee organized the Kainai Indian Days.

With a budget of about $8,000 and additional donations from various organizations and individuals, Mountain Horse managed to put on quie an extravaganza, attracting visitors from all over Canada and the United States each year.

"Many visitors told us they were satisfied with the way we organized the Indian Days. Money was good and we treated our visitors very well. There was lots of rations. One person told me that they didn't have to buy any groceries during the Indian Days," said Mountain Horse.

In 1975, the Kainai Indian Days Committee, handed over the responsibility of organizing the Indian Days to a younger group.

In retrospect, Mountain Horse said there has been many changes in Indian Days since two decades ago.

He said there was no such thing as female fancy dancers. "The women dressed in buckskin outfits, but today, even some women dress as chicken dancers and compete with men.

"Today, some women just wear a shawl without complete dance regalia and dance," he said.

He contends that old Native songs are better than the new ones because "the new songs have more words."

But Mountain Horse says that Indian Days celebrations are here to stay with even more changes in the future.