What is the purpose of the Lakota Sun Dance?
Sun Dance, most important religious ceremony of the Plains Indians of North America and, for nomadic peoples, an occasion when otherwise independent bands gathered to reaffirm their basic beliefs about the universe and the supernatural through rituals of personal and community sacrifice.
Who taught the Sun Dance to the Lakota?
The Sun Dance is one of the seven sacred rites given to the Lakota people by White Buffalo Calf Woman, a legendary figure said to have lived some “nineteen generations ago.” These rites represent the basic structure of Lakota ceremonies.
What does the Sun Dance symbolize?
The purpose of the sun dance is to reunite and reconnect with the earth and the spirits. It calls for a renewal of life and a prayer for life. It acts as a form of self-abasement so that the spirits will respond to his sacrifice and give him power and strength to finish the sun dance.
Why was Sun Dance banned?
“The sun dance was outlawed in the latter part of the nineteenth century, partly because certain tribes inflicted self-torture as part of the ceremony, which settlers found gruesome, and partially as part of a grand attempt to westernize Indians by forbidding them to engage in their ceremonies and speak their language.
What was the Sun Dance of the Lakota Indians?
The Sun Dance is one of the seven major rites of Lakota religion of which only two other rites are known to survive—the purificatory sweat-bath lodge and the vision quest, the seeking of power from the forces which pervade and animate the universe.
Which is the only public ceremony of the Lakota tribe?
Wiwanyag Wacipi, the Gazing-at-the-Sun Dance is now the only public ceremony of the Lakota (Teton-Sioux) religion. It is, however, not restricted to this tribe but is also practiced in various forms among the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Crow, Blackfeet, Plains Cree, and Wind River Shoshoni.
Are there any non native people in the Sundance Ceremony?
The Wi-wanyang-wa-c’i-p i (Sundance Ceremony): The only participants allowed in the centre will be Native People. The non-Native people need to understand and respect our decision.
Who is the chief of the Sundance dance?
The Sundance is a sacred ceremony from the White Buffalo Calf Pipe tradition of the Lakota people. Our Founding Dance Chief in Aotearoa/New Zealand was the late Chief Whitecloud (Patrick Hendrickson). Sundance is a ceremony where people come together to heal and bring renewal to the people and the land.