Aisoyimstan

Aisoyimstan, the Cold Maker, is the Blackfoot personification of winter, who brings the cold, snow, frost and storm down from the north — a character in Grinnell's 'Cold Maker's Medicine' (Blackfeet Indian Stories, 1913). The familiar image of him as a white man with white hair in white clothes on a white horse is recorded by Lewis Spence (1914). He stands opposed to the warmth of the Sun in the turning of the seasons on the northern plains.

Domains

• winter and cold
• snow and frost

Powers

• Brings the cold, snow, frost and blizzard down from the north

Epithets

• Aisoyimstan Blackfoot · Aisoyimstan · vernacular'Cold Maker'Grinnell, George Bird (1913). Blackfeet Indian Stories. (secondary)

Sources

• existence: George Bird Grinnell, Blackfeet Indian Stories (1913), 'Cold Maker's Medicine' (secondary); Lewis Spence, The Myths of the North American Indians (1914) (secondary)