The Piegan Medicine Lodge

A medicine woman holds a ceremony to thank the Sun God for the recovery of her grandson from polio. Scenes from the ritual include: tree cutting prayers and ceremony; selection and cutting of tree for center pole of medicine lodge; purification ceremony in sweat lodge; raising center pole and erection of lodge; ceremony inside lodge; dancing outside and stick games. The ritual takes place at Heart Butte, Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana. Produced in 1956 by the Montana Office of Public Instruction and the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. The Montana Historical Society digitized Knute Bergan’s 16mm print of The Piegan Medicine Lodge in 2017, in cooperation with and at the request of the Blackfoot tribe and the Siksika Board of Education. (collection MOV 0117) The Montana Historical Society is the owner of this film and makes available reproductions for research, publication and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from the MHS Photograph Archives before any reproduction use. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission to use may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright owners.