“Will you ever begin to understand the meaning of the ground beneath your feet? Everything is sacred – from a grain of sand to a great mountain. On this earth, yesterday and tomorrow coexist eternally. We, the native guardians, are protectors of these sacred places.”
Peter Blue Cloud, Mohawk
Anthropologists claim that there were about 600 different tribes living on the land of North America. Among them, there were many differences conditioned by geographical, climatic, and other circumstances. However, despite the differences, we can say that their relationship to the world was very similar, and what they all had in common was the perception of everything surrounding us as sacred. Researcher of the ancient Native American tradition, Joseph Epes Brown, says: The world of nature was their temple, and within that sanctuary, they expressed great respect for every form of life, its role, and its power.
Understanding the Native American worldview, it is crucial to realize the immense importance that the community had for them. The community is the foundation of their life and necessarily includes all beings that inhabit the tribe. the universe. Each individual being has its role in the web of life, represented as a circle rather than a linear hierarchy with the human species at the top. Although the emphasis was on community, and all the activities of the individual were directed towards the well-being of the community, it does not mean that qualities of the individual were not required. They were indeed valued, but the individual rejected isolated personality and aimed to maintain a conscious harmony with everything that surrounds them. In order for this to be possible at all, a person had to establish inner peace that comes precisely from that connection, as Black Elk tells us: The first peace, which is the most important, is the one that comes into the souls of people when they realize their connection, their unity with the Universe and all its powers, and when they realize that the Great Spirit is at the center of the Universe, and that this center is everywhere, it is within each of us.
Such a sacred relationship was developed through rituals, ceremonies, and customs. The purpose of ceremonies was to connect and unite the individual with his loved ones, the community of people with other forms of life (animals, plants), and this larger group with another world. One of the most famous religious ceremonies of the Native Americans from the Great Plains, which is still held today, is the Sun Dance.
About the Dance
The Sun Dance was held around the summer solstice, when smaller and larger groups would come together again after the winter dispersal. Although the dance differs in some details among different tribes, the main elements are common.
Indians believe that the Sun Dance allows the renewal of the connection between the human spirit and Wakan Tank (Great Spirit), who appears in the form of the Sun – the giver of life, and consequently the renewal of the entire tribe and the whole world. It is significant that the place designated for the ceremony by the Cheyenne is called the “tent of new life”. Such and similar names undoubtedly indicate that this ceremony served the renewal of life.
The time from the beginning of gathering at the agreed location for the dance to For the Native Americans, the completion of it was a ceremony that usually lasted about a week and involved personal and public preparations culminating in a communal dance. As part of the public preparations, a central fenced area or tent was raised, accompanied by elaborate rituals involving the cutting of a special tree (usually a poplar) that would serve as the central post around which the dance area would expand.
Inside the fenced area, facing east and the rising Sun, an altar is set up consisting of a symbolically painted and decorated skull on a sage-covered mat. The skull is facing east, and during the ceremony, sacrificial offerings are made to it along with prayers for grace and protection. The offerings are mostly plants (bundles of sage, tobacco, etc.). The Cheyenne people used to fill the eye and nasal cavities of a buffalo skull with grass representing the earth’s vegetation, especially the ones growing near water. This was a continuation of prayers for the abundance of plants, grass, and trees. , both for humans and animals.
While drummers positioned near the entrance of the tent sing special ceremonial songs, dancers move back and forth in rhythm, from the edge of the tent towards the central pole. With their gaze fixed on the spot where the central pole branches out, known as the “thunderbird’s nest” or “eagle’s nest”, they continuously dance and blow whistles made of eagle bones, producing sounds similar to an eagle’s screeching. This screeching symbolizes the power of prayers rising up to the sky, like eagles, to reach the Great Mystery. As the Sun Dance progresses, the tempo of the songs changes: the clanking rhythm becomes slow and heavy, as if a large herd of bison is passing through the prairie.
Thomas Yellowtail, the current leader of the Sun Dance and a shaman of the Crow tribe, says: The dancers do not eat or drink for almost two days [in the past, the dance lasted from 2 to 4 days], and many dance and blow whistles made of eagle bones almost constantly. The inner strength of each dancer is tested during the first day, and dedicated dancers They will reach into their hearts to find the courage to surrender all their strength to Acbadadea [the Creator]. Some dancers do not dance continuously but alternate between dancing and resting, afraid that they will not be able to finish the dance; they rely solely on their own strength. Those who fully surrender to the dance also show humility because they understand that their individual strength is not what will support them, but the source of all power and strength: Acbadadea.
In ancient times, the climax of the Sun dance for certain tribes involved voluntary self-injury. Dancers were pierced through the chest or shoulder muscles with spikes that would be hooked onto a central pole, and they would dance backwards until their flesh tore. Sometimes, buffalo hide straps were passed through the dancer’s skin and muscles, pulling a specific number of buffalo skulls. The Mandan tribe had a special ceremony called O-kee-pa during which some dancers hung from the top of the tent suspended by straps passing through their spinal or chest muscles. muscles. Additionally, they hung bison skulls from spikes that had been pierced through the skin in various parts of the body.
The Crow explain this in the following way: as the bison allow themselves to be exploited so that the Crow can survive, it is fitting to offer a part of their body to the Sun and other spiritual beings. Thus, the sacrifice of the dancers through fasting, thirst, and voluntary wounding reflects the desire to give back a part of themselves to nature, especially to the bison who sustain life, in exchange for past and future benefactions. Therefore, the bison offers itself to the Indian, and the Indian offers himself to the Sun. The Indians believe that through reciprocity and solidarity, which arise from the sense of kinship with all beings, harmony in nature is maintained, because the dynamic interconnectedness between humans and other beings in nature requires both receiving and giving.
Mircea Eliade explains that the O-kee-pa is an initiatory ceremony for the spiritual transformation of the participants in the dance. Death represented by the wounding and torment signifies the death of the everyday man and the spiritual and psychological the renewed self through the initiatory death returned to a more meaningful life. Charles Eastman, analyzing the meaning of the wounding and bleeding of the dancers, says that the pain that arises from it is a “natural accompanying phenomenon of symbolic death.”
During the dance, some dancers receive visions. The dancer who will receive the vision “falls like struck by lightning.” During the vision, the dancer is usually unconscious for several hours; they then encounter the “messenger of supernatural powers” and can communicate with spirits. They then “learn new songs, new healing techniques, new dance steps, and may also receive the gift of divination”, and at the same time receive instructions related to the acquired powers.
At the end of the afternoon of the last day of the dance, water is brought into the tent and placed next to the central pole, where the ritual of its consecration takes place, after which it is offered to the dancers by circling around the circle several times. This marks the end of the Sun Dance and the participants leave the tent and break their fast.
Through the dance, the connections are reconciled and renewed, leading to the establishment of harmony. In the entire tribal universe.
The symbolism of animals in the Dance of the Sun
Animals play a significant role in the lives of Native Americans, not only in a practical sense but also in a spiritual sense. They are considered wise and powerful, serving as intermediaries between human beings and supernatural forces. Native Americans believe that killing animals disrupts the brotherly relationships with them, and that the ceremonial Dance of the Sun, which reflects a particularly close connection with the eagle and bison, serves as a symbolic reconciliation.
The eagle, a sacred animal in the beliefs of all Native Americans, plays a major role in the Dance of the Sun. The eagle is directly present in the ritual as its nest is represented in the branches of the central pole of the tent. This nest symbolizes a spiritual being celebrated by people throughout America. Some tribes, especially the Crow and Shoshone, used to tie a live eagle to the beam above the entrance or next to the nest. It is considered the “king of all beings of the sky,” the “thunderbird.” It is revered for its courage, speed, strength, and extremely high flights that bring it The Sun and the Great Mystery are closer to any other creature.
According to Native American belief, he is the servant of the Sun, the giver of warmth and light, “he has sharp eyes and knows everything”. The Sioux say that the eagle holds all the wisdom of the world. He is the messenger of the Spirit to man and man to the Spirit and has the role of a guardian who protects people from evil. In the Sun Dance, the eagle helps communication between people and supernatural forces.
Supernatural powers were attributed to eagle feathers. During the dance, a shaman would direct a fan made of eagle feathers towards the body of the person seeking healing. The feathers would first touch the central pillar and then the patient, thus transferring the power from the pillar to the patient and bringing healing.
The bison, tatanka, enables the immediate physical survival of the tribe, but also has a strong spiritual significance, and therefore plays a central role in the Sun Dance. The crows still associate the bison with “abundance of food, abundance of clothing, peaceful and fulfilled life”. They obtained not only meat from the bison, but also skins for their tents, footwear, fur for… clothing and materials for other everyday items. Through their dependence on bison for sustenance, this animal has become “the body of our bodies”. The bison tongue, as the “holiest part of the holiest animal”, was ritually prepared for the Sun Dance and consumed before the start of fasting, followed by a feast of bison meat after the fasting period, at the end of the dance.
Celebrating the strength and wisdom of the bison, Lame Deer says: We Sioux are closely connected to the bison. He is our brother. We have many legends of bison transforming into humans. And the Indians are built like bison – broad shoulders, narrow hips. According to our belief, Woman Bison, who brought us the Peace Pipe and is at the center of our religion, was a beautiful girl, and after learning how to respect the pipe, she transformed into a white calf bison. So for us, the bison is very sacred. You cannot understand how close we were to the bison. That animal was almost like a part of ourselves, a part of our souls.
The myths of the Utes and Shoshones speak It is believed that it was the bison who gave instructions to humans on how to perform the dance and revealed the benefits that would come if the ritual was performed correctly. The oglala offered prayers to Wakan Tanki, stating that he is the master of all four-legged creatures, tatanka. Look at this bare skull here; through it, we know that we too will become skulls and bones and thus all together march along the sacred path back to Wakan Tanki. Here on earth, we live together with the bison, and we are grateful to him because he is the one who provides us with food and makes people happy. That is why I am now giving this grass to our relative, the bison.
Significance of the dance
The name “Tipi of a New Life,” as the Cheyenne people called the enclosed space where the Sun Dance takes place, describes the contents of this ceremony in itself.
The tipi that is raised is a symbol of the universe, and the central pole inside it is a symbol of the human connection to the Great Spirit. During the three or four days of offering sacrifices and prayers, participants dance towards the central pole. This act represents the intentions of humans to establish a connection with the Great Spirit. With the Great Spirit. Thomas Yellowtail says: The most dedicated dancers almost constantly dance and tread with their bare feet towards the central pole. These dancers are connected to the central pole by an invisible string that descends from the tree and enters their hearts. The path that the dancer paves towards the central pole represents this same connection. At the end of the Sun Dance, imprinted paths of the dancers remain as reminders of that invisible connection with the spiritual, which we all possess, that is within us and around us.
The Sun Dance thus represents the drama of cosmic renewal, in which all elements of nature are celebrated. The proper performance of the Sun Dance ensures the renewal of the tribe and the world for the following year. During the closing of the dance, the Oglala people address Wakan Tanki: You have taught us the interconnectedness of all beings, and we thank you for that. May we always be aware of this connection that exists between the four-legged, the two-legged, and the winged. May we all rejoice and live in peace!
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