The ceremonies and rituals of Native American tribes show a similar train of thought to other shamanic societies in the acceptance of animal representation but have a development all of their own. Tribal belief does vary somewhat, although the basic elements are the same from tribe to tribe. For instance, the Arapaho, Arikara, Assiniboine, Cheyenne, Crow, Gros, Ventre, Hidutsa, Sioux, Plains Cree, Plains Ojibway, Sarasi, Omaha, Ponca, Ute, Shoshone, Kiowa, and Blackfoot Native American tribes all practiced the Sun Dance.
The Sun Dance
The Sun Dance ceremony of these Plains Indians (containing three distinct groupings – northern, central, and southern) celebrates slightly different beliefs. Some hold that the ceremony celebrates the creation story, but this is not part of the Shoshone belief. The Shoshone holds that the Sun The dance lodge, a sacred space formed in honor of the ceremony, is a representation of the cosmos.
A Christian interpretation of the Sun Dance ritual was attempted in the 19th century, but it could only be interpreted as a ritual to restore health and could not easily be adapted to suit Christian thought.
Although the Sun Dance was outlawed in 1904, several tribes have relatively recently attempted to revive it in its original form and meaning, not just as a tourist attraction. As interest grows worldwide in natural magic, the true beauty and intrinsic significance of the ritual become more and more apparent. The Sun Dance originally safeguarded the coming year by re-creating the story of creation in much the same way as the Sabbat rituals do in Celtic belief.
As a sacred space, the Sun Dance Lodge is a symbol of the world – a microcosm within a macrocosm – and is used to heal people in an environment where human interference cannot take place. The lodge is left to decay naturally after the four-day ceremony and must not be destroyed by any human agency. When the lodge is first constructed, the central pole is a cottonwood tree that has been particularly chosen and brought home with special ceremonies. It is the channel between people and God and can be seen as the World Tree or the Tree of Life. The Sun Dance facilitates a change of consciousness where visions and wisdom can be received. The tree, or rather a pole representing the central tree is an integral part of shamanic belief being the connection between the spiritual and physical realms.
The Sun Dance symbolizes the resolution of the conflict between having to kill and eat buffalo to survive and view them as wise and powerful, even closer to the creator than humans. A buffalo head is attached at the top of the central pole to represent all games.
The natural course of the Plains Indians, since they believed that the buffaloes gave themselves to them for food, would be to make some sacrifice in return out of gratitude. Thus the sacrifice of the dancers through fasting, thirst, and self-inflicted discomfort also allows them to return something of themselves to nature.
Making the buffalo sacred, symbolically giving new life to it means treating it with respect and reverence is a kind of reconciliation. The Plains Indians believed that without the buffalo, there would be death, and the buffalo not only provided them with physical well-being but kept their souls alive too.
The eagle also plays a large part in the Sun Dance which is the most sacred totem. The eagle flies high, being the creature closest to the Sun.
Therefore it is the link between man and spirit, being the messenger that delivers prayers to the Wakan-Tanka (god). The eagle’s nest, which is fixed just below the buffalo’s head on the central pole, signifies the chief of the birds. Together the buffalo and eagle stand for the two levels of the universe: earth and sky.
Etiquette of the ceremony
Various preparatory rituals take place before the ceremony proper and after the last preliminary dance. Those taking part in the ceremony camp close to the lodge in a wide circle with the lodge at its center.
On the first day of the actual ceremony, the (male) dancers prepare by painting their faces and arms red with black spots. On the second day, yellow paint or clay is used. The hair is braided, sometimes with other decorations; the use of feathers usually indicates that the dancer has a guardian spirit. An eagle bone whistle is worn around the neck along with a tribal necklace containing an eagle down. This down is also attached to the little finger of each hand, presumably to signify allegiance to the eagle as a totem. The men are naked from the waist up but wear a richly decorated garment similar to an apron.
As the evening star rises on the first day of the ceremony, about 40 dancers march into the lodge and move to the back. Drummers then enter and sit at the front left (the southeast).
The ceremonial leader stands by the center pole and asks Tam Apo – Our Father or Supreme Being – for his blessing. Songs are then sung, each repeated four times, the end of each signaled by the blowing of eagle bone whistles.
The dancing is a monotonous kind of shuffle designed to induce a trance-like state. The dancers turn their faces towards the east, in the direction of the rising Sun.
The Shoshone name for the Sun Dance is ‘dry-standing-dance’. Only short breaks are allowed during the three days of its duration and the dancers must fast and drink nothing for this period. As in the vision quest, this suffering is intended to make the supernatural forces show mercy and enable the dancers to heal their people. It is when the Shoshone is in the trance state towards the end of the Sun Dance that supernatural powers are most likely to be forthcoming.
On the second day, at dawn, single or pairs of dancers begin to dance. At sunrise, all the dancers form five lines behind the center pole.
There is a great noise made with drumming and whistling; the dancers greet the Sun by stretching their hands towards it. With great attention, morning prayers are listened to before the dancers take care of their own physical needs. This ritual is repeated every day of the ceremony, as is the painting of the dancers which takes place each morning.
Now the healing rites begin. Intense drumming and dancing take place at about 10 o’clock and lasts about an hour, presumably to raise the vibration, before the people are healed and brought into the lodge. They are treated by the medicine man at the center pole.
The injuries are brushed by the medicine man with an eagle wing to symbolize the transference of the power from the World Tree – the center pole. The healing of the sick and the blessing of the dancers both appear to be the same process, designed to offer support and supernatural power as necessary.
The third day is the hardest and most powerful. Medicine bags, which contain herbs and revered objects, are brought out and sacred pipes are passed around. Healing rites are generally performed when the Sun is in the ascendancy. The dancing, drumming, and noise-making are more intense than ever and where the dancer’s feet have worn tracks, the pattern can be seen. The third day is often when more vivid and sacred visions appear to the dancers; those who still have the energy to dance often have more intense visions, but by now many people lie on the ground, completely exhausted from the continuous dancing.
The dancers taking part are blessed on the fourth day at the center pole, but the healings and blessings stop promptly at midday. Gifts, be they money, furs, or blankets, are offered to the medicine man who, in the late afternoon, pours some water onto the ground while facing east, as an offering to Mother Earth. The resting dancers are then given some of the water, the first liquid to pass their lips since the dance started.
The gifts are then passed out to the women for distribution, though some are placed at the base of the pole as an offering. There is then a great feast with much energetic dancing in the evening or – as often happens – the participants are given time to refresh themselves and the feast may well take place on the following evening.
By looking at all the symbolism and rituals involved with the Sun Dance, we can see natural magic in operation. All parts of nature are linked together and are dependent on one another. Everything has a right to existence and can lend its energy to a greater whole. The changes of consciousness that occur in the dancers allow access to the power of animals, who reveal their physical and spiritual powers to the ordinary man as much as they do to the medicine man and initiated shaman.
The Sun Dance shows the continuity that there is in life. It suggests that there is no true end to life, but that there is a cycle of death and rebirth in which everything takes part. The Sun Dance carries the message that humans must give of themselves to help keep the cycles of regeneration going.