elements across a fair sampling of tribal groups. Attention
will also be given to contemporary movements among many
Native American peoples for revitalization of traditional sa-
cred values and practices. Indeed, it is primarily the Sun
Dance that, as its popularity increases, is acting as model and
stimulus for traditionalist movements extending even to
non-Plains tribes and to disenchanted non-Native Americans
who are seeking examples of what true religious traditions
really are.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION. The major Sun Dance celebrations
take place for all the tribal groups in late June or early July,
“when the sage is long” and “the chokecherries are ripe,” or,
as some put it, in “the moon of fattening.” In the times when
these peoples were nomadic pasturalists, the grasses of the
prairies would during these months be sufficient to feed the
great herds of horses belonging to the tribal bands, who often
were joined in the circles of camps with allied tribes. These
springtime ceremonies (in the past they may have been held
earlier than June) were actually the climax of an annual cycle
of minor rites and meetings of many types. Among the
Crow, for example, “prayer meetings” take place regularly at
the time of the full moon; among all the tribes, groups of
singers meet periodically around their drums in order to
practice and to instruct younger singers in the extremely dif-
ficult and subtle Sun Dance songs, many of which have been
faithfully transmitted from ancient times. There are also con-
temporary songs that have come out of an individual’s sacred
experiences or that have been learned from other tribes, for
today there is much exchange of songs and other cultural ele-
ments in the course of the more popular pan-Indian summer
powwow circuit. However, all songs that are used in the Sun
Dance lodge must accord with particular styles and rhythms,
since clear distinctions are made between ceremonial and so-
cial dance songs.
Given the complex logistics of the Sun Dances, with en-
campments of large numbers of people, many people volun-
teer or are selected during the year to fulfill a wide range of
duties. Usually a sponsor coordinates the many details and
materials for the construction of the sacred lodge or the pro-
vision of the feast at the end of the ceremonies, both of which
are accomplished at considerable expense and sacrifice. The
most important person however, is the spiritual leader, a
“medicine person,” who is guardian of the sacred lore and
who usually has received special powers through the vision
quest (or who may have received the authority to lead the
ceremonies from a retiring elder who has passed on his sacred
powers). These spiritual leaders have traditionally been rec-
ognized as holy people, for they know and live the sacred tra-
ditions and have powers for curing those who are ill in body
or spirit. Such shamanic figures have been greatly respected
as leaders within the tribe, or they have been feared because
of the great strength of their mysterious powers. Such leaders
should not be considered as belonging only to the past, how-
ever, for new leaders are taking their places. Indeed, there are
today a growing number of such leaders, including younger
men and women who have attempted to become accultur-
ated within the dominant society but, often finding this to
be a process of diminishing returns, have gone back to the
wise elders for help in reestablishing traditional values in
their contemporary ways of life.Those who participate in the actual ceremonies within
the sacred lodge are often individuals who were previously
in situations of extreme danger, perhaps as members of the
armed forces in wars the United States has conducted over-
seas, and who vowed that if they should survive they would
participate in the next Sun Dance upon returning home. Par-
adoxically, their experiences in foreign wars have acted as a
stimulus for the continuation, and indeed intensification, of
the Sun Dance traditions into the present.
To those sacrificing in the lodge for the first time are
assigned mentors who are experienced in the Sun Dance ritu-
als and who—having known the suffering of being without
food or water for a period of three or four days—are able to
counsel and give support to the novice in the lodge. Other
camp duties are taken care of by special “police” who see that
proper conduct and respect for sacred matters are observed,
functions once fulfilled by the warrior societies. A camp crier
is also named, who has the responsibility of encircling the
camp on horseback in the very early mornings and in the eve-
nings, of chanting instructions to the people, or of giving
useful information concerning the day’s activities. On occa-
sion such criers might relate humorous incidents, intending
to bring great laughter from the circles of lodges, or from the
wall tents used today. For in Plains life, now as in the past
(and even in the context of the most serious affairs), humor
has a legitimate and effective purpose—not just the momen-
tary relief of tensions accompanying the enactment of sacred
rites, but also the opening of the human person to deeper
modes of understanding.
LODGE CONSTRUCTION. Once the Sun Dance encampment
has been established at an appropriate place where there is
good water and pasturage, the first ritual act is to select a spe-
cial cottonwood tree with branches forking at the top. The
tree is then cut in a ceremonial manner, the first blow of the
ax often being given by a young woman who has been chosen
for her virtue and purity (if any man present knows that she
has been unfaithful he has the right and obligation to de-
nounce her publicly). The tree must be felled in a specific
direction and is not allowed to touch the ground; it is then
carried on poles, with songs, ritual acts, and prayers per-
formed along the way. The cottonwood tree is finally placed
in a hole prepared at the center of what will be the sacred
lodge, which is itself at the center of the encampment. The
selected tree is now understood as the axis at the center of
the world. It links heaven and earth, thus giving the people
access to spiritual realities and conveying the images of the
center and the heavens above, together with their larger im-
plications. For most peoples who practice the Sun Dance,
this special tree is understood as a “person.” In a way akin
to human participation in the sacrifice, the tree transmits to
those who sacrifice in the lodge the cooling powers of theSUN DANCE [FIRST EDITION] 8845