Our Culture

We welcome you to observe and participate in our colorful and diverse cultural traditions.

For centuries, the Creator has blessed our people with a home in the shadows of the Rocky Mountains and on the edge of the great prairies.

Together, this has allowed our people and our culture to thrive and grow.

Our culture is deep and complex and is best experienced rather than read.

However, we will try and give you a glimpse of the beauty of our people.

The nearby Banff hot springs and the paint springs show some of the mysterious ways of the Creator.

In the early days before the white man came, Indians used to hear something in those springs.

“It’s the spirit that rules the hot springs and the paint springs,” the people would say.

They would bathe in the springs because of the medicine in them, and then they would drop something in the water as a gift to the spirits for the use of their water or the use of their paint, the yellow ocher.

In the old days, the Indians used to pray to the spirits to cure them of their sickness. Then they were healed by the mysterious strength of the waters.

We are a strongly spiritual people who value what the Creator has given us our children, our heritage, our land and our people.

Many visitors become overwhelmed by the nuances of our cultural traditions. But we encourage you to come and learn.

A great opportunity to glimpse our traditions is to visit our annual Chiniki Pow Wow held in late June.

Come and learn the history of the Dance and the Drum and experience our celebration of life and traditions.

Or, just sit with our Elders at the Chief Chiniki Restaurant and listen as they speak of the old days.

When you visit our community, you cannot help but leave with a sense of what the Stoney culture is all about.