In 1941 the charismatic Shoshoni Sun Dance leader
John Truhujo brought the Sun Dance back to the Crow
through the support of the tribal superintendent Robert Yel-
lowtail. A tradition that had been abandoned for more than
sixty-six years was thereby reinstated. In January of 1985
Truhujo died at the age of approximately 105, having trans-
ferred his sacred powers to Thomas Yellowtail, brother of the
former superintendent. It is the Sun Dance in this particular
form, faithfully led by Thomas Yellowtail to the present
time, that has become for the Crow, as well as for many other
tribes, an example and stimulus giving continuity and viabili-
ty to the essentials of the spiritual heritage of the Plains
peoples.
In this Shoshoni/Crow Sun Dance the dancers take po-
sitions in arbors that surround the inner periphery of the
lodge, with the presiding spiritual leader, or “medicine man,”
always at the west. Women, who are allowed within the
lodge to fast, take places slightly to the north of the east-
facing entrance. The large ceremonial drum and the alternat-
ing teams of drummers and singers have their place a little
to the south of the entrance, and they are surrounded by
strong-voiced older women who help to sing the sacred
songs. The dance’s spiritual force resides in the movements
of the fasting participants, who for the three or four days’ du-
ration of the ceremony are always oriented to the central tree,
toward which they dance as often or as little as they wish.
They blow on eagle-bone whistles tipped with eagle down,
as if they themselves were eagles; then they dance backward
to their stalls, still facing the central tree. The rhythmic
movements of the dancers are dignified, and their concentra-
tion on the tree is continual and intense; for them this is the
center and source of life, and the lodge symbolizes the totali-
ty of creation. In the course of the ceremonies, participants
often receive sacred visions; when they sleep—never for more
than a few hours at a time—dreams of special meaning may
come.
An especially powerful and beautiful ceremony central
to the Sun Dance takes place every morning just before
sunup, when all the dancers, under the direction of the
group’s spiritual leader, face the direction of the rising sun,
moving slowly to the beat of the drum and blowing softly
on eagle-bone whistles. As the sun rises the drum and the
sunrise greeting-song come to a crescendo. Eagle plumes tied
to the wrists of the dancers are held out to the sun’s first rays
and are then touched to parts of the body so that the dancer
may receive purifying blessings. Once the sun is above the
horizon, the dancers sit wrapped in their blankets while very
ancient sacred songs are sung and communal prayers are of-
fered. On the second or third day of the dance, people who
are ill come into the lodge and stand at the sacred tree to re-
ceive help from the spiritual leader, who prays over them and
often draws out the illness with the aid of an eagle-wing fan.
Accounts of cures are legion. At the conclusion of the Sun
Dance, water that has been blessed is ceremonially passed
around among the participants, who have taken no food or
water since they first entered the lodge. Thereafter, many
people from the camp bring valuable gifts into the lodge,
sometimes even horses loaded with blankets and beadwork,
which are given away to particular persons who are called for-
ward to receive them. The dancers themselves usually com-
plete the ceremonies with a purifying sweat bath at a nearby
creek or river, and in the evening there may be a special feast
for all.
The power of sacred traditions of primal origin cannot
be compromised by time, place, or number of participants,
for in themselves the values and realities concerned are of
timeless and universal validity. Though a world of other pri-
orities ignores or neglects such values they may nevertheless
be rediscovered as still enduring, even increasing in meaning
into the present day. The history of the Plains Sun Dance
is continuing witness to this reality.BIBLIOGRAPHY
Anisimov, A. F. “The Shaman’s Tent of the Evenks and the Ori-
gin of the Shamanistic Rite.” In Studies in Siberian Shaman-
ism, edited by Henry N. Michael, pp. 84–123. Toronto,- An excellent example of Siberian shamanic elements
reminiscent of shamanic phenomena in North America.
Brown, Joseph Epes, ed. The Sacred Pipe. Norman, Okla., 1953.
An especially useful work; chapter 5 presents descriptions of
the Lakota Sun Dance by the sage Black Elk.
Dorsey, George A. The Arapaho Sun Dance. Chicago, 1903.
Dorsey, George A. The Cheyenne, vol. 2, The Sun Dance. Chicago, - Dorsey’s books define in great ethnographic detail and
with excellent plates and diagrams most elements of the
Arapaho and Cheyenne Sun Dance as they obtained at the
turn of the century.
Hultkrantz, A ̊ke. Belief and Worship in Native North America. Syr-
acuse, 1981. Chapter 4 presents an excellent treatment of the
symbolical language encoded in the Wind River Shoshoni
Sun Dance Lodge.
Jorgensen, Joseph G. The Sun Dance Religion. Chicago, 1972.
This work contains much valuable information on the Ute
and Shoshoni Sun Dances, but its theory that these were re-
demptive movements following the collapse of the Ghost
Dance of 1890 is open to question.
Lowie, Robert H. The Sun Dance of the Crow Indians. New York, - Good ethnographic documentation of the early forms
of the Crow Sun Dance; omits many of the religious and
spiritual elements.
Powell, Peter J. Sweet Medicine. 2 vols. Norman, Okla., 1969.
One of the best accounts of the Cheyenne Sun Dance rites
and beliefs, with close attention given to religious symbolism
and the people’s sacred history.
Spier, Leslie. “The Sun Dance of the Plains Indians: Its Develop-
ment and Diffusion.” Anthropological Papers of the American
Museum of Natural History 16 (1921): 451–527. An early,
inconclusive study of the origins of the Sun Dance.
Voget, Fred W. The Shoshoni-Crow Sun Dance. Norman, Okla., - The best account of the renewal of the Crow Sun
Dance under the influence of the Shoshoni Sun Dance lead-
er, John Truhujo.
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