SUN DANCE: THE RITUAL
BY DANY DASSYLVA
Aboriginal People have a strong system of belief.
For thousands of
years, they have been
celebrating nature and including its elements in
most of their rituals. Westerners call one of these
rituals the sun dance. The Lakota call it:
“wiwanyag” which can be translated as: dance
looking at the sun. The Blackfoot call it “Okàn”
which means “the sacred sleep”. The sun dance
was the most important religious ceremony that
was practiced among North American native
bison hunting tribes, so those found in the plains.
Tribes like: The Arapaho, Arikara, Asbinboine,
Cheyenne, Crow, Gros Ventre, Hidutsa, Sioux,
Plains Cree, Plains Ojibway, Sarasi, Omaha, Ponca, Ute, Shoshone, Kiowa, and Blackfoot tribes
were annually holding this ritual, but noticeable differences are found from one tribe to another.
The ceremony was held around the summer solstice (end of June) and lasted approximately four
to eight days depending on the tribe. This research is divided in 2 parts. In the first part, the idea
behind this ceremony and the purpose of the ritual will be discussed. The second part describes
some components of this great ritual.
THE IDEA BEHIND THIS CEREMONY
The fundamental idea behind this ritual is to praise the Sun god, called by the Blackfoot “Nàtos”
and by the Sioux “Wakan-Tanka”. Natives confer a lot of power to the elements and the ritual of
the sun dance underlines this ideology because the ceremony also praises the power of the earth.
In the prairies, around the summer solstice the life comes back, the flowers are out, the birds sing,
and the weather is nice. In a way, the ritual of the sun dance represents this phenomenon, because
it symbolically represents the continuity between life and death and the capacity of the planet to
generate life, death and rebirth. In other words, and based on a document used for my research:
“It shows that there is no true end to life [and also that] all of nature is intertwined and dependent
on one another. This gives an equal ground to everything on the Earth.’’ The ceremony also gives
the chance to the tribe Shaman to cure the ills. Often, the Shaman uses eagle feathers to gather
the generative and curative power of the sun to heal the ills. Another idea behind this ceremony is
to praise buffaloes because Natives were once in history very connected with this animal. The
reason is quite simple and easy to understand because the presence of this animal was assuring a
good quality of life. In fact, “plain indians” were highly dependent on the big buffalo herds for:
food, shelter, clothing, tools, and toys. The sun dance celebrates this relationship; therefore, the
buffalo is omnipresent in the ceremony. In the ritual, the Cheyenne used exclusively objects and
symbols related to the buffalo, for instance, they stuffed buffalo skulls with grass to ask the sun
god for abundance, because for them it meant healthy buffalo meat. The Lakota placed a huge
dried buffalo phallus against the sun-pole to give virility to the dancers.
The sun dance also represents the duality between the buffaloes and the indians. According to
Native, the buffaloes have a lot of power on their life, are wise, and are god-like. The problem is
that plain natives killed this animal. In the ceremony of the sun dance, they symbolically give a
new life to the sacred animal by simply by treating it with respect and reverence. These attentions
act as reconciliation between the animals and the humans.
The sun dance was also the time of the year when the young and brave men were steeping in the
manhood and becoming new warriors by doing, in some tribes, a self-toture session, which will
be explained later in the text.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RITUAL (In the Sioux tribe)
From one tribe to another, the ceremony of the sun dance was done differently, but most in most
tribe dancing, singing and drumming, the experience of visions, fasting, were part of the
ceremony. In most Sioux tribes, a sun lodge was built. Outside, a long tree, the sun pole, with a
fork at its top was placed in the middle of a designated area. Depending on the tribe, different
offerings were attached to the top of the pole. For instance, the Sioux bundled up brushes,
tobacco, a buffalo skull facing the setting sun and other religious offerings. The erection of this
sun pole metaphorically represented the center of the world and the strong connection between
heavens and earth. The pole was raised very high in the sky to close to the sun and to itself with
its power.
During the four day ceremony, native tribes were burning sage to purify their environment,
chanting legends and stories, dancing for the upcoming hunting season, playing drum, purifying
themselves with sweat lodge and giving offerings to the sun god to ensure a good relationship
with the buffaloes. Some tribes were also practicing self-torture for the new warriors entering in
the manhood and as a sign of gratitude toward the buffaloes.
Warriors were standing in front of the sun pole with buffalo flesh on their body. Two incisions on
the chest were made and then two hooks fixed on a rope, that was attached to the top of the sun
pole, were passed through the cuts on the chest of the warrior and tightened to create a great
stress on the warrior’s chests. This self-inflection was part of the ceremony because Natives
believe that the buffaloes sacrificed there soul to provide food for the entire tribe, so the only
respectful way of giving it back was to offer a part of themselves in return.
The meaning of this practice was symbolizing rebirth.
According to the native that was
practicing these self-torture sessions, the pain created by the hooks is representing death and
being directly connected to the sun pole is representing the resurrection. The fundamental idea of
the whole ceremony relates the intrinsic idea of the cycle of life within nature, which is highly
respected among Native cultures. Furthermore,
by doing that, the sun dancers were reborn,
mentally, physically and spiritually along with
the renewal of the buffalo and the universe.
After a few days, the dancers stopped dancing
and continued their fasting laying on bed of
sage. They also shared their visions with the
shaman for interpretation and also to create
new songs and stories.
The sun dance was a very important ritual practiced by the North American plain tribes. Due to
the controversy of some parts of the ritual, the U.Sian government abolished the ritual in 1904.
However, some native tribes still practice the ceremony, but of course modified some part of it.
Sources:

http://www.garynull.com/documents/nativeamerican.htm

http://www.crystalinks.com/sundance.html

The Blackfoot Sun Dance written by reverent John Mclean in 1889

Blood Indian Sun Dance Elliot G.E.D written 1893