Sun Dance
The Sun Dance (or Sundance) is a religious ceremony practiced by a number of Native American and First Nations peoples, primarily those of the Plains Nations. Each tribe has its own distinct practices and ceremonial protocols. Many of the ceremonies have features in common, such as specific dances and songs passed down through many generations, the use of traditional drums, the sacred pipe, tobacco offerings, praying, fasting and, in some cases, the piercing of skin on the chest or back for the men and arms for the women.
In 1997, responding to increased desecration of the ceremony, Arvol Looking Horse, 19th Generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe asked non-Native people to stop attending the Sun Dance, or Wi-wanyang-wa-c'i-pi in Lakota. On March 8 and 9, 2003, bundle keepers and traditional spiritual leaders from Arapaho, Cheyenne, Cree, Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota Nations met and issued a proclamation that non-Natives would be banned from sacred altars and the Seven Sacred Rites, including and especially the Sun Dance, effective March 9, 2003 onward.
Piercing
Although not all Sun Dance ceremonies include dancers being ritually pierced, the object of the Sun Dance practice is to make a sacrifice to the Great Mystery, and to pray while connected to the Tree of Life, a direct connection to the Creator. A common explanation is that a flesh offering, or piercing, is given as a part of a prayer for the benefit of one's family and community.
Though only some Nations' Sun Dances include the piercings, the Canadian Government outlawed that feature of the Sun Dance in 1895. It is unclear about how often this law was enforced or how successfully. Many ceremonies were simply done quietly and in secret. The United States government followed suit in 1904 with their own laws and enforcement. With better understanding of and respect for indigenous traditions, both governments have ended their prohibitions. The full ceremony has been legal in Canada since 1951, and in the U.S. since passage of the 1978 American Indian Religious Freedom Act. The sundance is annually practiced on many reserves and in other areas. Often the ceremony is done in the spring or early summer, with preparations going on for the entire year before the ceremony.
In popular culture
- Although the ceremony is not depicted, many Native Americans shown shirtless in the American film Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman have scars. Byron Sully, who has adopted the Cheyenne way of life (and is Quinn's love interest), identifies these as Sun Dance scars.
- The 1970 film "A Man Called Horse" features a sun dance as an initiation rite.
See also [ Fakir Musafar ]
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