Indians 101: The Sun Dance among the Algonquian-speaking Plains tribes

For many, if not most, of the Northern Plains tribes, the Sun Dance was the central ceremony and often served as a unifying force to bring together the various hunting bands. Usually held when the tribe came together for the annual summer buffalo hunt, it involved dancing around a pole set inside a specially built dance arbor. While the actual ceremony and the frequency with which it was traditionally conducted varied among the tribes, there are several basic themes that are associated with the Sun Dance: (1) seasonal renewal, growth, and replenishment, and (2) the acquisition of spiritual power. In spite of attempts by Christian missionaries and the United States government to suppress the Sun Dance, it has continued. For many Indian people today, participation in the Sun Dance is an affirmation of their Indian cultural identity.

Briefly described below is the Sun Dance among some of the Algonquian-speaking Northern Plains tribes: Northern Cheyenne, Blackfoot, Gros Ventre (Atsina), and Plains Cree.

Northern Cheyenne

Among the Northern Cheyenne, a dog would be killed and cooked before the Sun Dance ceremony started. Belle Highwalking, in her autobiography Belle Highwalking: The Narrative of a Northern Cheyenne Woman, recalls:

“The dancers danced around the pot in which the dog was cooking, and then they lifted the arms of the person putting on the ceremony. They did this four times, after which they stirred the boiling dog soup with their bare arms.”

According to Belle Highwalking:

“Everyone wanted a piece of dog meat which is believed to bring good luck.”

Among the Cheyenne, the Sun Dance traditionally involved the offering of the “Sacred Woman” (the pledger’s wife) as a sexual offering to the instructor. This offering represents a supernatural channel for the rebirth of the people and the world. It is also a way of transferring spiritual power from the instructor to the pledger.

Gros Ventre (Atsina)

In his 1913 book The Vanishing Race: The Last Great Indian Council, Joseph Dixon quotes Gros Ventre Chief Running Fisher saying:

“The sun dance is a custom among the Indians which seeks to elevate a spirit of honour among men as well as women”

Among the Gros Ventre men did not traditionally take part in the ceremony until they had received recognition as a warrior. According to Running Fisher:

“The men emulate the deeds of their fathers in order that they may take part in the sun dance. And thus this wonderful dance becomes a school for patriotism among the tribes and a stimulus to deeds of valour as well as an incentive to virtue.”

Blackfoot

The Blackfoot adopted the Sun Dance, which is often called the Medicine Lodge, early in the nineteenth century. Writing about the Blackfoot Sun Dance, Howard Harrod, in his book Mission Among the Blackfeet, reports:

“As a religious ceremony, the sun dance gathered up important parts of individual life and gave them ritual expression.”

One of the important elements of Blackfoot religion is the medicine bundle. When the Blackfoot adopted the Sun Dance, a medicine bundle was included in the ceremony.

For the traditional, pre-reservation Sun Dance to occur, a woman would make a vow during a personal crisis or illness. The woman pledger would then symbolize perfection and serve as a model for all of the young girls. The pledger would also acquire the medicine bundle from the previous sponsor and use it for conducting her rituals. Walter McClintock, writing in his 1900 book Four Days in a Medicine Lodge, says:

“The medicine-women are held in high honor by the Indians, for they must have led perfectly pure lives before the entire tribe, and must have been kindly disposed toward all its members.”

In his chapter on the Blackfoot in the Handbook of North American Indians, Hugh Dempsey describes the traditional Blackfoot Sun Dance this way:

“The basic elements of the Medicine Lodge included the woman’s vows, a period of fasting, cutting of sacramental buffalo tongues, a construction of a 100-willow sweatlodge, raising of a center pole and erection of the holy lodge, ceremonies by the weather dancers, and counting of coups.”

For the men, the Sun Dance was a time to show their bravery. Traditionally, this was a time when the older warriors would recount their coups.