Lycoperdaceae Lycoperdon sp.

Puffball

Blackfoot - Other, Ceremonial Items

Use documented by:
Hellson, John C., 1974, Ethnobotany of the Blackfoot Indians, Ottawa. National Museums of Canada. Mercury Series, page 38

View all documented uses for Lycoperdon sp.

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Scientific name: Lycoperdon sp.
Common names: Puffball
Family: Lycoperdaceae
Family (APG):
Native American Tribe: Blackfoot
Use category: Other
Use sub-category: Ceremonial Items
Notes: Puffballs figured into religious life. Puffballs were thought to be stars that had fallen to earth during supernatural events. There was a story about the woman who married Morning Star and had a child by this supernatural being. When she returned to earth with the Natoas bundles and her child, she was directed by the star personage to keep her baby from touching the ground for fourteen days. She managed all right until the day she went for wood and left the child in the care of a grandmother. The grandmother was careless and the baby touched the ground. It turned into a large puffball and returned to the heavens as the Fixed Star (North Star), plugging the hole left by the woman when she pulled out the Holy Turnip.

RECRD: 3599 id: 21479

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