Native American Ritual Dancing Essay -- Native Americans Rituals Tradi

Native the Statesn Ritual Dancing It has very much been tell that the North American Indians trip the light fantastic toe out their religions (Vecsey 51). There were ii very important dances for the Sioux tribe, the Sun terpsichore and the touch sensation leaping. Both dances assign the nature of Native American spi rituality. 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 ghostlike honoring of the Plains Indians of 19th-century North America (Lawrence 1). The Sun Dance became a metre of renewal and thanksgiving for Native Americans. Everyone had a role to play any 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 rough social aspects to the dance, such as powwow dancing in the afterwardnoon and evening. The Sun Dance was an important ceremony, whi ch 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 former(a) summer, when all the bands of the tribe were reunited after the winter (Dance). The Sioux tribes celebrated the Sun Dance ceremony for quadruple days. Other tribes are reported to extend the ceremony over ogdoad days. This dance, like early(a) Indian rituals and ceremonies is not rehearsed. There are many an(prenominal) provisions that need to take place in order to cabal 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 workforce of the tribe then join in the prep arations for the dance by seduce sweat lodges, which are used in the ceremony. They also collect other necessities, which are needed for the dance. The scratch 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 elect to look for a (cottonwood) tree with a fork in the realize (Dance). Along with this select group went a chosen woman. She took the first chop at the tree. She then held a con... ...ight%20News/Native_American_Beliefs.htmHultkrantz, 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.htmlMassacre At wound Knee, 1890 1998. 5 March 02 http//www.ibiscom.comMcGaa, 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. capital of the United Kingdom University of Nebraska Press, 1991.Neihardt, John G. The Sun Dance. 28 Jan 2002http//www.wayne.esu1.k12.ne.us/neihardt/sun.htmlVoget, Fred W. The Shoshoni-Crown Sun Dance. New York University of okeh Press, 1984.