MEDICINE HAT is a city in southeastern Alberta, Canada. It is located along the South Saskatchewan River.

The name "Medicine Hat" is an English interpretation of Saamis (SA-MUS), a Blackfoot word referring to a headdress of eagle tail feathers worn by medicine men. Several legends are associated with the name of a mythical sea river serpent named Soi-yi-daa-bi-bi. The creator - who appeared to the hunter and ordered him to sacrifice his wife in order to obtain mystical powers, which manifested itself in a special hat. Another legend tells of a long-standing battle between the Blackfeet and the Cree, in which the retreating Cree "Snatcher" lost his headdress in the South Saskatchewan River.

A number of natural factors have always made Medicine Hat a gathering place. The gentle valley with its converging waterways and hardy native poplar trees attracted both the migrating herds of bison that passed through the area and the people who used the waterways and hunted bison. Before Europeans arrived, the historic Blackfoot, Cree, and Assiniboine peoples had used the area for hundreds of years and had been preceded by previous indigenous cultures for thousands of years.