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Why was the Sun Dance criminalized by the U.S. federal government from 1883 to 1934?

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A Cheyenne River Sioux dancer in colorful traditional regalia performs during the Grand Entry at a powwow, with an American flag and other participants in the background. — Oceti Sakowin A member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe performing during the Grand Entry at the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Fair Rodeo and Powwow, Eagle Butte, South Dakota, September 4, 2016.

In 1883, the U.S. secretary of the interior, acting on the advice of Bureau of Indian Affairs personnel, criminalized the Sun Dance and various other Indigenous religious practices. This prohibition was part of a broader federal policy of assimilation, which sought to replace traditional Indigenous cultures and governance with Euro-American social and economic structures.123

Federal authorities rationalized the ban by claiming they had an obligation to protect the public welfare from what they deemed "dangerous" behaviors. Specifically, officials characterized the Sun Dance as a form of torture that was inherently harmful to the public good. These claims were ethnocentric and failed to recognize the religious significance of the ritual, which involved personal and community sacrifice to seek spiritual power or insight.21

The prohibition, which was renewed in 1904, was not reversed until 1934 under a new administration. Despite these government efforts to suppress the ritual, many Plains peoples, including the Oceti Sakowin, continued to practice attenuated forms of the ceremony, and the Sun Dance remains a significant religious ritual today.124