We know where we came from, we know
where we’ve been, and we know whom
we are. We came through three
transitions to become who we are. We
were (Awaakiiwilaxpaake) People of
the Earth, we were all one mankind,
we became (Biiluke) on Our Side, we
became (Awashe) Earthen Lodges, and
we became Apsáalooke some 2000 years
ago.
While we were (Awaakiiwilaxpaake)
People of the Earth, when the birds
and animals could talk, some of us
wanted to fight each other. They
wanted warfare. They approached our
Creator and asked if they could
fight each other. Our Creator said,
“First you must prove to me that you
are men enough to fight.” He placed
a man, with a bow and arrow at the
bottom of a sheer cliff in the water
and told the men to dive off the
cliff, but soon changed their minds
once they saw the man with his bow
and arrow cocked and ready to shoot
anyone who dove off the cliff.
Finally one man walked up to the
cliff and dove off into the water.
He lay dead in the water with an
arrow protruding from his collarbone
and blood streaming from his
nostrils. Our Creator said, “Iilak
bacheek, there is a man (kooshtakaatbaawiik).
I won’t make too many of him, (baapiihaaksee)
from this day forward, (haaweewiakssaalah)
try to wipe him out.” From that time
we have been called Biiluke. Even
unto this day we still refer
ourselves as Biiluke.
While we were
Biiluke. We lived in a wooded area
with vast bodies of water (Balebilichke
isaatkaasuuk). We were fishermen, we
hunted small game and waterfowl, we
dug up roots and bulbs, we gathered
nuts and berries, and we trapped the
fur-bearing animals for our
clothing. We lived in makeshift
shelters, lean-tos and wickiups. We
migrated westward to the banks of
the Big River, in search of a
certain Sacred Tobacco Plant, which
was to be found in a mountainous
region. We became Awashe, Earthen
Lodges.
We retained all of our survival
skills, but we became farmers. Oral
history says, “We didn’t stay there
too long and we moved on, but for
some reason we spoke the same
language, which is still used today,
after some two thousand years.” No
Vitals with many of his family and
friends of the Real Water Band, of
the Awashe, broke from the band, in
search of the Sacred Tobacco Plant.
This was the exodus that commenced
the Great Migration.
We migrated throughout the northern
and southern plains, where we came
upon lakes with salt on their banks.
We ventured into Canada twice but
the Sacred Tobacco Plant could not
be found. No Vitals has passed away
during the migration on the Great
Plains. It was his son who carried
on this quest and fasted on Cloud’s
Peak and saw The Sacred Tobacco
Plant glowing on the east slopes of
the Big Horn Mountains, where “Raven
Owner Was Badgered.” The Sacred
Tobacco Society was initiated about
this time, and that was the
beginning of the Apsáalooke Nation.
We picked up and adopted various
aspects of our Apsáalooke way of
life, as we progressed from one era
to another.
