Quezi

Assiniboine family, Montana, 1890-91 - PD

The Assiniboine, are a Siouan Native American people originally from the Northern Great Plains of the United States and Canada and they were centered in present-day Saskatchewan. This group of people was semi-nomadic, and they followed the bison herds during the warmer months. They did a considerable amount of trading with Europeans and worked with the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara tribes.

They were sometimes called the “Stone Sioux” because they cooked mostly with stones. They would drop hot stones into water, causing the water to boil, which would cook the food.

The Assiniboines are near relatives of the Lakota and Dakota tribes, and they speak a similar language. The Assiniboine language is spoken today by about 200 people in Montana, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. However, they have always been politically distinct from the Sioux. In fact, they were often at war with each other.

Assiniboine women were always in charge of the home. Besides cooking, an Assiniboine woman built her family’s house and dragged the heavy posts with her whenever they moved. Houses belonged to the women. Men were hunters and warriors, responsible for feeding and defending their families. Both genders took part in storytelling, artwork and music, along with traditional medicine. Assiniboine men wore tribal tattoos on their chests and arms, while the women tattooed spirit lines on their faces.

Today, a number of Assiniboine people live jointly with the Sioux on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in northeastern Montana, and with the Gros Ventre Indians on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in north central Montana.

For more information about the Assiniboine