Native American Sun Dance: Communication with the Spiritual World - Essay Example

Native American Sun Dance: Communication with the Spiritual World I. Introduction A ritual that tells many stories about the culture of plain tribes in the Americas is the sun dance. Native Indian groups usually celebrated this ritual in the early summer, along with the buffalo hunt. The importance of the ritual was for the male members to dance for a particular length of days while looking at the burning hot sun, or some call it heaven. The dance became a symbol of willingness to give up oneself for the happiness and safety of the tribe. The sacrifice was given to the divine powers, which control the destiny or fate of the tribe. In addition to offering their survival through regular period of dancing, people who participated in the ritual might cut their breasts in order to give out leather thongs through their flesh. And then, they would attach the thongs to sticks arranged in a circle which represents the ring of the tribe and make divine the blood and physical pain that were created to the sake of tribe’s safety and happiness (Starkloff 1974). In giving their pain, their flesh, as offering to the Great Spirit, the sun dancers brings a faith that everything else existing in the mortal world is owned by the Great Spirit. Therefore, sacrificing other lesser beings or creatures made little sense, yet others might save a little portion of tobacco or a fraction of an animal killed in the hunt, as a way of remembering the time when all fine things are available. The only true possession of human beings was their physical bodies and their identities; hence, this is the gift the dancers offered. Through offering their physical existence in the form of their bodies in the form of symbols of the shared identity of the tribe must have improved their inspiration and motivation. The emotions that people sometimes taken for granted under the sake of love of one’s homeland can be very powerful thats why influential, particularly when the group has loving groups (Carmody et al. 1993). Nothing stood greater than Native American Indians’ idea than the health and happiness of one’s people. All personal contributions or donations were precious with respect to the belief that they watched over the tribe and supported it blossom. Positively, Native Americans differed as persons and retained personal good qualities and badness. Definitely, tribal way of life did not remove selfishness. But traditional Native Americans relied on one another so constantly and obviously that the thought of uniqueness as people may currently cry for, was not a serious temptation. The sun dance made possible to express the belief, dominant on the plains, that sacrificing for one’s people was the greatest religious performance (ibid). The government of the United States prohibited the sun dance in the latter part of the nineteenth century because they think it is barbaric. Northern tribes continued performing it in secrecy, but it became useless in the southern plains. However, in the middle of the twentieth century it came out from hiding and in the final decades a number of Northern tribes have included it as a part of their religious ceremonies (White 1998). II. The Sun Dance of Native American Indians The Sun Dance was among the plainest tribal ritual activity in the cultural region of the Plains, and almost all the groups performed it. It is still practiced in the present day among many tribes, but the dance as it is in the contemporary age most commonly known is perhaps of somewhat new origins. Similar to many other elements of Indian culture, the Sun Dance has developed since interaction with the earliest European scholars in the 19th century. The roots and history of the Sun Dance are mysterious and cannot be rediscovered enough, even though it is commonly believed to have been practiced since the eighteenth century. And, there are historical relations between the Sun Dance and other ancient rituals of the Plains Indians, some of it having striking similarities. There are some historical stories of the Sun Dance among the different Plain tribes. For instance, The Cheyenne trace the ritual to the worshipped Suhtai prophet, Erect Horns. They believe their Sun Dance has been practiced since time immemorial (Ropp 1996). The Sun Dance religion and ritual is an expression of humanity’s desire to be close as much as possible to the Creator and give balance and purpose to life. “For tribal people, life is one… all life is sacred… the whole range of life is open to spirit; the tribal peoples of North America proclaim the One Great Spirit” (White 1998, 5). The Sun Dance Process The tribes gained knowledge that the sun dance is composed of several elements. There was the ritual of the holy pipe, the cleansing ceremony, prayer ceremonies conducted every month, and a ritual every year. The sun dance leader gives the prayers from the sacred pipe to the four paths, as well as to the earth and sky, regularly or on a day by day performance. The cleansing ceremony is held before the sun dance and again afterwards. Sun dance prayer ceremonies held monthly occurs 12 times in a year, at the period of the full moon. Throughout this ceremony, two medicine packages are opened, and ritual items are brought out and placed on an elk’s skin in the heart of the floor. Very hot coals are carried to the small house, incense is put on the fire, and particular songs are sung to help bringing the prayers of the smoke to a more delicate world (Carmody et al. 1993). At the end of the ceremony, people in the crowd approaches to be cured. Animal tools, such as feathers of eagles and skins of otters, are used. Yellow Tail, a prominent leader of one of the Native American tribes, used a “hollowed out horn of a spiked horn elk as his primary method of healing” (White 1998, 9). Puffing on an ill person’s back with a horn produced a terribly ear piercing noise, but resulted in many of unbelievable healings and defense against danger. Throughout the ceremonies of healing, the medicine man prays for the diseased, touching him/her with the animal tool. The evil spirits are brought to the piling, and then thrown into the wind. Sometimes medicinal plants are given to the diseased to reduce simple symptoms, but the basic healing is through prayer. The medicine man calls for spiritual elements to enter the mortal world so as to cure the diseased (ibid). In addition to the yearly ceremonies, there is a sun dance held for three to four days each summer, usually in July. Sun dance ceremonies normally close with a cleansing ceremony in order for the tribe members to re-enter the world with a new life and with new energy. Some scholars who studied the sun dance said that this ritual is as obvious as it is unclear, and related to a period of the cleansing ceremony (Starkloff 1973). During the sun dance the buffalo plays an important role in the hallucinations. The buffalo may strike a dancer, or the dancer may confront the buffalo through attacking it. Passing out in a long time means one was too much afraid to fight with the buffalo. One must show bravery and stand up against the buffalo before the buffalo looks at him admirable to give what he wishes for. At a definite instance the Crow will observe he is glimpsing through the buffalo’s eyes, that he has turned out to be one with the buffalo (White 1998). The Sun dance represents a solution with the disagreement between being a human that view the buffalo as wise and powerful, even more intimate to the creator than the humans, and having to slain and overwhelm them to survive. Making the buffalo holy, typically giving fresh life to it, and dealing with it with respect and admiration plays as a kind of solution. Without the buffalo there would be deaths, and the Indians of the Plains believe that the buffalo not only gave them with physical health but maintained their souls alive, as well (ibid). Self-inflicted torture has as well become a symbol of rebirth. The torture stand for death, then the person is symbolically brought back to life. The sun dancer is reborn, spiritually as well as mentally and physically, together with the rebirth of the buffalo and the whole universe (Ropp 1996). At the heart of the ritual is the drum that symbolizes the life force of the tribe. The beat is played all the way through the ritual and is oftentimes coupled with flutes, rattles, and nowadays trumpets. It is not unusual to discover a range of home produced in addition to present instruments being used in the sun dance rituals (ibid). The sun dance is a collective occasion. While not everybody who becomes viewer to the dance ceremony experiences visions, everybody participates in the ceremonies and brings something away from the occasion. Every feature of the ritual is important; the costumes chosen represent the animal spirits of specific importance to the tribal community and both sexes experiencing the four day ritual itself dedicated themselves entirely to the experience (White 1998). Works Cited Carmody, John Tully et al. Native American Religions: An Introduction. New York: Paulist Press, 1993. Ropp, Thomas. "Sun Dance Awakens Spirituality, Prompts Life Changes for Author." The Arizona Republic (1996): C1. Starkloff, Carl F. The People of the Centre: American Indian Religion and Christianity. New York: Seabury, 1974. White, Philip M. The Native American Sun Dance Religion and Ceremony: An Annotated Bibliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998. Read More