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Sun Dance
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What is the Sun Dance?
The Sun Dance is the most significant religious ceremony of the Plains Indians in North America. It is an occasion for nomadic groups to gather and reaffirm their beliefs through rituals of personal and community sacrifice.
Traditionally held in late spring or early summer, the Sun Dance involves the construction of a dance structure with a central pole symbolizing a connection to the divine. Participants, who have often pledged to dance in fulfillment of a vow or to seek spiritual power, fast and dance for days. In some tribes, dancers also practice self-mortification through piercing.
The U.S. government criminalized the Sun Dance in 1883, but the prohibition was reversed in 1934. Despite these efforts, the Sun Dance persisted and remains a significant religious ritual among many Plains peoples in the 21st century.
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Which Native American groups practice the Sun Dance?
The Sun Dance is the most important religious ceremony of the Plains Indians of North America. It is an occasion for independent bands to gather and reaffirm their beliefs through rituals of personal and community sacrifice. By the late 19th century, the practice had spread with local variations to include most tribes from the Saulteaux in Saskatchewan, Canada, south to the Kiowa in Texas, and was common among settled agriculturists and nomadic groups of the region.
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When and why is the Sun Dance held?
The Sun Dance is the most important religious ceremony of the Plains Indians of North America. Traditionally, each tribe held it annually in the late spring or early summer, when the buffalo congregated after the long Plains winters.
The Sun Dance is an occasion for nomadic bands to gather and reaffirm their beliefs about the universe through rituals of personal and community sacrifice. It is often undertaken in thanks for relief from difficulties. Those who participate generally do so to fulfill a vow or seek spiritual power or insight.
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What are some important rituals or activities during the Sun Dance?
The Sun Dance is the most significant religious ceremony of the Plains Indians, typically held annually in late spring or early summer. It serves as a time for nomadic bands to gather and reaffirm their beliefs through community and personal sacrifice.
Key activities include the erection of a central pole, symbolizing a connection to the divine, and preliminary dances to prepare the grounds. Participants, who have pledged to partake, dance intermittently for days without food or water, seeking spiritual power or to fulfill a vow. Some endure ritual self-mortification, such as piercing, to ensure tribal well-being. Although criminalized in the past, the Sun Dance persists as a vital religious ritual among many Plains peoples.
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What does the Sun Dance mean for the people who participate in it?
The Sun Dance is the most important religious ceremony of the Plains Indians of North America, reaffirming their beliefs about the universe through rituals of personal and community sacrifice. It is typically held annually in late spring or early summer and is an occasion for nomadic bands to gather.
Those who participate in the Sun Dance do so to fulfill a vow or seek spiritual power or insight. The ceremony includes dancing, fasting, and, in some tribes, self-mortification. The Sun Dance is done to ensure tribal well-being and to fulfill individual vows.
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How has the Sun Dance changed over time and what challenges has it faced?
The Sun Dance is the most important religious ceremony of the Plains Indians, intended to reaffirm their beliefs about the universe through community sacrifice. It traditionally occurred in late spring or early summer, when buffalo congregated. By the late 19th century, the Sun Dance had spread to tribes from Saskatchewan to Texas.
The ritual involves the erection of a central pole symbolizing a connection to the divine. Participants would pledge to dance for days without food or water, sometimes with self-mortification through piercing.
In 1883, the U.S. secretary of the interior criminalized the Sun Dance, but the prohibition was reversed in 1934. Despite government efforts, the Sun Dance persisted and remains a significant religious ritual among many Plains peoples.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Sun Dance, most important religious ceremony of the Plains Indians of North America and, for nomadic peoples, an occasion when otherwise independent bands gathered to reaffirm their basic beliefs about the universe and the supernatural through rituals of personal and community sacrifice. Traditionally, a Sun Dance was held by each tribe once a year in late spring or early summer, when the buffalo congregated after the long Plains winters. The large herds provided a plentiful food source for the hundreds of individuals in attendance.
The origin of the Sun Dance is unclear; most tribal traditions attribute its conventions to a time deep in the past. By the end of the 19th century it had spread with local variations to include most of the tribes from the Saulteaux in Saskatchewan, Can., south to the Kiowa in Texas, U.S., and was common among the settled agriculturists and the nomadic hunting and gathering societies of the region.
One example of the globally common religious practice of requesting power or insight from the supernatural is the Sun Dance. In many instances sun dancing itself was a private experience involving just one or a few individuals who had pledged to undertake the grueling ritual. The development of participation by the whole community, direction by tribal and religious leaders, and elaboration of ceremonies augmenting the votariesā prayers and offerings indicate the ways this ritual reflected a tribeās secular and religious aspirations.
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The most elaborate versions of the Sun Dance took place within or near a large encampment or village and required up to a yearās preparation by those pledging to dance. Typically the pledgesā spiritual mentors and extended families were heavily involved in the preparations, as they were obligated to provide most of the necessary supplies for the ritual. Such supplies generally included payments or gifts to mentors and ritual leaders, often in the form of elaborately decorated clothing, horses, food, and other goods.
As the community gathered, specific individualsāusually members of a particular religious societyāerected a dance structure with a central pole that symbolized a connection to the divine, as embodied by the sun. Preliminary dances by a variety of community members often preceded the rigours of the Sun Dance itself, encouraging supplicants and ritually preparing the dance grounds; one such preliminary was the Buffalo Bull Dance, which preceded the Sun Dance during the complex Okipa ritual of the Mandan people.
Those who had pledged to endure the Sun Dance generally did so in fulfillment of a vow or as a way of seeking spiritual power or insight. Supplicants began dancing at an appointed hour and continued intermittently for several days and nights; during this time they neither ate nor drank. In some tribes supplicants also endured ritual self-mortification beyond fasting and exertion; in others such practices were thought to be self-aggrandizing. When practiced, self-mortification was generally accomplished through piercing: mentors or ritual leaders inserted two or more slim skewers or piercing needles through a small fold of the supplicantās skin on the upper chest or upper back; the mentor then used long leather thongs to tie a heavy object such as a buffalo skull to the skewers. A dancer would drag the object along the ground until he succumbed to exhaustion or his skin tore free. Among some tribes the thongs were tied to the centre pole, and the supplicant either hung from or pulled on them until free. Piercing was endured by only the most committed individuals, and, as with the rest of the ritual, it was done to ensure tribal well-being as well as to fulfill the supplicantās individual vow.
In 1883, acting on the advice of Bureau of Indian Affairs personnel, the U.S. secretary of the interior criminalized the Sun Dance and a variety of other indigenous religious practices; under federal law the secretary was entitled to make such decisions without consulting Congress or the affected parties. The prohibition was renewed in 1904 and reversed in 1934 by a new administration. During the period of prohibition, attenuated forms of the ritual continued among a number of tribes, usually as part of public Fourth of July celebrations. Despite government efforts, the original forms of the Sun Dance were never completely repressed, and in the early 21st century sun dancing remained a significant religious ritual among many Plains peoples.
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