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The museum returned the sacred items to the Siksika Nation after almost a century
Alex Chapman | Planet Attractions | 13 Aug 2021
The Weather Dance Robe was created for the Siksika Nation’s Weather Dancer, a medicine man with a divine connection to the sun who regulates the weather Credit: The National Museum of the American Indian
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) has repatriated two sacred items to the Siksika Nation, a group of Candian indigenous people located in present-day Alberta, Canada.
The two items, also known as Natowa’piists, include a Prairie Chicken Society headdress and a Weather Dance Robe. They were returned to the Siksika Nation in a ceremony at the museum’s Cultural Resources Center in Suitland, Maryland, in July.
Unique to the Siksika Nation, the headdress would have once belonged to the society’s leader and was acquired by the Museum of the American Indian, the NMAI’s predecessor, in 1908 by an unknown collector.
The Weather Dance Robe was used by the Weather Dancer, a medicine man with a divine connection to the sun whose primary job was to control the weather for ceremonial rituals, such as the Sundance, and provide blessings for members of the community. The Weather Dance Robe was acquired by William Wildschut in 1924 from Yellow Old Woman, a noted Siksika Weather Dancer and the robe’s creator.
With both items now returned to the Siksika Nation they will once again be used in traditional ceremonies.
Repatriation
Herman Yellow Old Woman, a ceremonial elder of the Siksika Nation and the great-grandson of Yellow Old Woman, has long advocated for the return of these sacred items.
An agreement to return the items was reached in May 2021, and Siksika Nation chief and council representative Kent Ayoungman accompanied Herman Yellow Old Woman to retrieve the items at the ceremony in July.
“These items have been gone for almost 100 years, so the thing that is amazing for us is that these materials (Natowa’piists) are going to go right back into action,” said Yellow Old Woman in a statement from the Siksika Nation.
“The Sundance is coming up in the next two weeks and they will be transferred and put right back into circulation, so today is an honour. It’s very emotional” he added.
Machel Monenerkit, acting director for the NMAI, said “Repatriation has always been one of the highest priorities for the NMAI.”
“Our repatriation policy embodies our mission and vision, and we are proud to have worked with the Siksika Nation to ensure the return of these objects” she continued.
The 1989 National Museum of American Indian Act, which led to the creation of the NMAI, required that any remains and funerary items be returned. The law was extended in 1996 to include items of sacred use. However, as this law only applied to nations within the United States the Canada-based Siksika Nation was excluded. As a result, repatriation of items is now done on a case-by-case basis.
The Prairie Chicken Society headdress is unique to Siksika Nation and would have been worn by the society’s leader CREDIT: THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN
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