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Native American Ritual Dancing “It has often been said that the North American Indians ‘dance out’ their religions” (Vecsey 51). There were two very important dances for the Sioux tribe, the Sun Dance and the Ghost Dance. Both dances show the nature of Native American spirituality. The Ghost Dance and the Sun Dance were two very different dances, however both promote a sense of community. “The Sun Dance was the most spectacular and important religious ceremony of the Plains Indians of 19th-century North America” (Lawrence 1). The Sun Dance became a time of renewal and thanksgiving for Native Americans. Everyone had a role to play either in the preparation leading up to the dance, or within the dance itself. The entire tribe was expected to attend the ceremony. There were also some social aspects to the dance, such as powwow dancing in the afternoon and evening. The Sun Dance was an important ceremony, which was held once a year. Turner states that ritual stresses unity of (the) group, and that is exactly what was done in the Sun Dance. Different tribes held the ceremony at different times of the year. Generally, “The Sun Dance was performed in either the late spring or the early summer, when all the bands of the tribe were reunited after the winter” (“Dance”). The Sioux tribes celebrated the Sun Dance ceremony for four days. Other tribes are reported to extend the ceremony over eight days. This dance, like other Indian rituals and ceremonies is not rehearsed. There are many provisions that need to take place in order to prepare for the ceremony. In the week prior to the dance, the Sun Dance chief arrives early to set up his campsite and oversee the raising of the ceremonial tipi that the dancers dress and prepare in (McGaa 85). The Sun Dance chief is said to be the most respected holy man with in the tribe. The men of the tribe then join in the preparations for the dance by construct sweat lodges, which are used in the ceremony. They also collect other necessities, which are needed for the dance. The first day before the Sun Dance is a very significant day. In the early morning hours a group of men “known for their eminence in their tribe were chosen to look for a (cottonwood) tree with a fork in the top” (“Dance”). Along with this select group went a chosen woman. She took the first chop at the tree. She then held a con... ... middle of paper ... ...ight%20News/Native_American_Beliefs.htm> Hultkrantz, Ake. Belief and Worship in Native North America. Ed Christopher Vecsey. NewYork: Syracuse University Press, 1981. - - - . Native Religions of North America: The Power of Visions and Fertility. New York: Harper & Row, 1987. Irwin, Lee, ed.Native American Spirituality. Nebraska: The University of Nebraska Press, 2000. Kehoe, Alice Beck. The Ghost Dance; Ethnohistory and Revitalization. Chicago: Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc, 1989. Lawrence, Elizabeth Atwood. “Sun Dance.” 2 Feb. 2002 http://www.crystalinks.com/sundance.html> ”Massacre At Wounded Knee, 1890” 1998. 5 March 02 http://www.ibiscom.com McGaa, Ed. Mother Earth Spirituality: Native American Paths to Healing Ourselves and Our World. New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 1990. Miller, David. Ghost Dance. New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1959. Mooney, James. The Ghost-Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890. London: University of Nebraska Press, 1991. Neihardt, John G. “The Sun Dance.” 28 Jan 2002 http://www.wayne.esu1.k12.ne.us/neihardt/sun.html> Voget, Fred W. The Shoshoni-Crown Sun Dance. New York: University of Oklahoma Press, 1984.
The Native American culture revolved around a circle, or what black Elk referrers to as their nation’s hoop. The flowering tree is the center of the hoop. The flowering tree is symbolic of growth and prosperity for all the people in the tribe. It is equally shared between all the members of the tribe. “Everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the power of the world always works in circles, and everything tries to be round” (APT 315). The flowering tree at the center of the circle was nourished by the seasons, which also occur in a circular pattern. Black Elk also makes reference to the sky and the earth being round, the moon and the sun setting in a circle as well as both being round. The wind blows in circular whirls. A person’s life from childhood to death is circular (APT 315). The reference to a circle of how Indian’s lived is symbolic because in a circle, everything that goes around comes around. Everything is shared amongst the citizens. Even thought there were members of the tribe that were regarded as chiefs or held high ranks, they still slept in tepees just like every other person. Rank was not granted by how much a person had; it was granted by the ability to help other members of ...
The Sun Dance focuses “on the most powerful deity, the god of the Sun” (Oxtoby 50). Vision quests are an important ritual to the Lakota Sioux. It is completed by boys as a passage to adulthood (Oxtoby 52). Devils Tower, in the Black Hills of Wyoming, is a location that many tribes hold sacred for these practices. The Hopi try to protect the land of their ancestors but “the white men” do not listen and destroy the sacred lands. Dale McKinnon refers to Woodruff Butte as a “big, ugly pile of rocks” (In the Light of Reverence). To the Hopi, this “ugly pile of rocks” holds sacred shrines that they “claim spiritual responsibility for” (In the Light of
Although the Mandan may differ from other Plains Indians in the fact that they live in a rooted community, they share many traditions with the neighboring tribes. They believe in a great spirit, they use medicine bundles, sacred pipes, have a sweat lodge and conduct many religious and spiritual ceremonies. The Mandan have a ceremony like no other recorded that is exclusive to their tribe called the Okipa or Okeepa.
Also, Warren writes, “What did the new religion portend? Was it a secret plan to unite the tribes against their white oppressors?” The statement above says it all; the white’s were the oppressors of the natives, the white’s automatically believed that the natives are going to rebel, and the “new religion” (to the whites of course) is not acceptable. Whites knew they were controlling and dictate on what the Native Americans could do, but did not see that this oppression was wrong. Having lost everything, Native Americans were not going to let Americans prevent their ability to practice the ghost dance ritual. In the article, “Ghost Dances and Identity” by Gregory E. Smoak, Smoak states “the [ghost] dance for the Lakotas had become a religion of resistance.” Native Americans had nothing to lose, everything was already taken away from them. Their culture and religion was something that kept their identity intact. The Americans can do as they pleased, but when it comes to destroying a piece of what makes a person a different race, than of course there is going to be a resistance. Culture is what makes us all different from one another, but it is also what makes us who we
Duane Champagne in Social Change and Cultural Continuity Among Native Nations explains that there has never been one definitive world view that comprises any one Native American culture, as there is no such thing as one “Native community” (2007:10). However, there are certain commonalities in the ways of seeing and experiencing the world that many Native communities and their religions seem to share.
Dorothea M. Susag, Roots and Branches: A Resource of Native American Literatures--Themes, Lessons, and Bibliographies (1998).
In George E. Tinker’s book, American Indian Liberation: A Theology of Sovereignty, the atrocities endured by many of the first peoples, Native American tribes, come into full view. Tinker argues that the colonization of these groups had and continues to have lasting effects on their culture and thus their theology. There is a delicate balance to their culture and their spiritual selves within their tightly knit communities prior to contact from the first European explorers. In fact, their culture and spiritual aspects are so intertwined that it is conceptually impossible to separate the two, as so many Euro-American analysts attempted. Tinker points to the differences between the European and the Native American cultures and mind sets as ultimately
The Yaqui(Yoeme) people of Arizona, for example, do Jesus’swork and think of him as being like their little brother,the Deer. Both Deer and Jesus are perfect innocentswho give their lives so that others may live. The Yoemeperform ceremonies in honor of Jesus: at theend of theEaster Ceremony in which they empower Jesus to(p. 700) resurrect Himself, they ring the bell of their church tocall St. Michael to carry to heaven the flowers thatbloom from their ritual labor. Every year, in a ceremonythat attracts thousands of people, the Zuni of NewMexico perform Shalako, a ceremony in which thegreat powers of the cosmos enter the Pueblo and dancewith the people. In the Pacific Northwest, the Salishsing and dance the powers given them by their spirithelpers, thereby acknowledging the religious obligations that make life possible.(Picture missing)Indian medicine conference (Photo by Ilka Hartmann)These are key insights expressed in past and presentNative American religious activity.
Throughout ancient history, many indigenous tribes and cultures have shown a common trait of being hunter/gatherer societies, relying solely on what nature had to offer. The geographical location influenced all aspects of tribal life including, spirituality, healing philosophy and healing practices. Despite vast differences in the geographical location, reports show various similarities relating to the spirituality, healing philosophy and healing practices of indigenous tribal cultures.
Pages one to sixty- nine in Indian From The Inside: Native American Philosophy and Cultural Renewal by Dennis McPherson and J. Douglas Rabb, provides the beginning of an in-depth analysis of Native American cultural philosophy. It also states the ways in which western perspective has played a role in our understanding of Native American culture and similarities between Western culture and Native American culture. The section of reading can be divided into three lenses. The first section focus is on the theoretical understanding of self in respect to the space around us. The second section provides a historical background into the relationship between Native Americans and British colonial power. The last section focus is on the affiliation of otherworldliness that exist between
The Native American culture revolved around a circle, or what Black Elk called the "sacred hoop". The flowering tree was the center of the hoop. The flowering tree was symbolic of growth and prosperity for all people in the tribe. It is equally shared between all members of the tribe. "Everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the power of the world always works in circles, and everything tries to be round" (pg. 150). The flowering tree at the center of the circle was nourished by the seasons, which also occurred in a circular pattern. Black Elk also made references to the sky and the earth being round, the moon and the sun setting in a circle as well as both being round. "The wind blows in circular whirls. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood" (pg. 150).
Most of the women and children in Big Foot's tribe were family members of the warriors who had died in the Plains wars. The Indians had agreed to live on small reservations after the US government took away their land. At the Wounded Knee camp, there were 120 men and 230 women and children. At the camp, they were guarded by the US Seventh Cavalry lead by Major Samuel Whitside. During the year 1890 a new dance called the Ghost Dance started among the Sioux and other tribes. The Sioux's Christ figure, Wovoka, was said to have flown over Sitting Bull and Short Bull and taught them the dance and the songs. The Ghost Dance legend was that the next spring, when the grass was high, the Earth would be covered with a new layer of soil, covering all white men. Wild buffalo and horses would return and there would be swift running water, sweet grass, and new trees. All Indians who danced the Ghost dance would be floating in the air when the new soil was being laid down and would be saved. The Ghost Dance was made illegal after the Wounded Knee massacre though. On December 28, 1890 the Seventh Cavalry saw Big Foot moving his tribe and Big Foot immediately put up a white flag. Major Samuel Whitside captured the Indians and took them to an army camp near the Pine Ridge reservation at Wounded Knee. Whitside took Bigfoot on his wagon because it was more comfortable and warmer, and Big Foot was sick. Whitside had orders to take the Indians to a military prison in Omaha the next day, but it never happened. That night Colonel James W. Forsyth took over. The Cavalry provided the Indians with tents that night because it was cold and there was a blizzard coming. The next day, December 29, 1890, the Cavalry gave the Indians hardtack for breakfast. There was a seize of arms and the soldiers took all the Indian's guns away. A medicine man named Yellow Bird told the Indians to resist the soldiers and not give up the guns, he did a few steps of the Ghost Dance.
of Native American Culture as a Means of Reform,” American Indian Quarterly 26, no. 1
Kugel, Rebecca, and Lucy Eldersveld Murphy. Native women's history in eastern North America before 1900: a guide to research and writing. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2007.
I felt it was a good idea to ask my next question when I did because of the interest I got in Native Americans in a previous question. “Do you know anything about the religious beliefs of Native Americans?” For this question, I felt everyone had the same general idea about Native American beliefs. Many of them believed the Native Americans worshiped nature and had a deep respect for it. Lynne had said “I know they believed things had a spirit, everything is alive and that everything worships God. What I loved about them when I was younger was that if for example, if they were to hunt and kill something they would thank it for feeding them.” Very similarly Frank said, “They would thank nature, like if they had to kill an animal for food they would thank it for its services.” Marie had said “I think they believe in the sun and the seasons, I