Visual Exploration 2: Powwows and the sun dance

 Traditions of the Lakota Sioux

The Lakota Sioux have many different traditions, celebrations and ceremonies with clothing full of rich colour and cultural significance. Here I have selected some of them which interest me to delve into through visual and written research.

Pow wow

What is it?

• A Powwow, also known as Wacipi is a traditional native American celebration and social event lasting several days. It is an event for friends and family to meet, camp and reconnect with each other across the 
• Dancing is a large part of Powwows, accompanied by the rhythmic beating of drums, singing, and elaborate attire.  
• The alluring outfits dancers wear are full of colourful fabrics, featherwork, beadwork and tassels which dance in their own way during the dancer's intricate footwork. Their outfits are skillfully crafted and are sometimes gifts from people important to them.
• The dancers move in a clockwise direction, which represents the circle of unity and the never-ending circle of life.
• There are several dance styles, different ones males and females. The male dances are: Fancy, Grass, Prairie Chicken, and Traditional. The female dances are: Fancy, Jingle, and Traditional. The traditional dances vary from the north to the south. 
• In modern powwows, there are dancing competitions.

Dancing Video Dancing Video Dancing Video

Sun Dance Ceremony

What is it?

• The Sun Dance ceremony is a sacred ritual which was performed every year in late spring to early summer, in modern times it has mostly died out but there are a few tribes which still practice the sun dance. 
• It originated with the Lakota but isn't restricted to it. Other tribes namely Blackfoot, Crow, and Plains Cree among others practiced it in various ways. 
• Mostly men took part in the dance, they would be not allowed food or water for two days at a time leading up to the ceremony to train their bodies to withstand the ceremony.
• The aim of the ceremony is to purify ones self as well as to offer flesh to the Creator or the spirits in order to ask for healing of family or friends. It was also a rite of passage into adulthood for boys when they turned twelve years old.
• Dancers were typically shirtless wearing a ring of sage upon their heads as well as around their wrists and ankles. Each man also carried a whistle made from the wingbone of an eagle which when blown imitated its cry.

What happens during it?

• Before the ceremony the tribe finds a tree, usually cottonwood, which is regarded as the sacred tree. This tree will be in the centre of the ceremony to be danced around. Coloured flags were strung up to the tree or sticks signifying the four winds; two black flags for west, red at the north, yellow for the east, and white for the south.
• It was essential that before partaking in any religious ceremony, the participants spent time in the sweat lodge, a small enclosed structure built to contain steam. They are made to resemble a monther's womb, purifying the dancers as they prayed and smoked the sacred pipe in preparation for the dance.
• The men then lined up before the tipi, an elderly man carried the buffalo skull atop a bed of sage, while the pipes were carried by the women. Holy green sage was placed upon their heads, wrists and ankles. 
• The singing and drumming would start before the alter once its constructed, the men also blowing on their eagle bone whistles.
• Offerings of tobacco were made to each of the flags.
• For the men, he would be cut on both his arms, his blood smeared on him with the eagle feather fan. The flesh would then be placed in a red cloth attached to the other offerings on the tree.
• The men were then pierced with sharp bone, which were attached to ropes bound to the tree. the dancers then danced until the bones tore their flesh, all while looking at the sun.
• After all of the dancers had made their offerings of flesh, the ceremony was complete and the dancers' wounds were treated.

To get a better understanding of the sun dance ceremony, I watched this documentary which wonderfully explains the sun dance and other native American traditions.