Napi
Blackfoot · deity · matumataapi · deity
Napi, 'Old Man,' is the central Blackfoot culture-hero: a creator-trickster who shaped the land, the animals and the first people, taught them which foods to eat and how to live, and instituted their customs, then departed toward the western mountains promising to return. He is at once a powerful maker and a foolish, greedy, often comic figure. Grinnell records that the Blackfeet sometimes identified Na'pi with the Sun (the creator), while modern Blackfoot tradition keeps Napi, the Sun (Naato'si), and the abstract creator Apistotoke distinct.
Domains
- creation
- trickery
- culture and custom
Powers
- Shapes the land, the animals and the first people
- Teaches the people which foods to eat and instituted their customs
- Plays the foolish, greedy trickster whose schemes rebound on him
Epithets
- Na'pi
Relations
- equated with: Naato'si