Sun Dance Origin

According to the origin of the Sun Dance, which is a sacred annual summer ritual that was performed by some twenty tribes of the Plains Indians (the nomadic tribes of the American mid- west). The performance of the Sun Dance varied among different tribes people, but certain activities were common throughout the various Plains Indian tribes. In a word, the performance types and structure are different between varies tribes. Just like other native dance and music, the purpose of the Sun Dance, which is a sacrificial dance, and which is to allow people to renew their faith in the spirits that guide the world. It contained all religion and most rites. The Sun Dance was in a sense a universal religion, emphasizing the individual’s relationship to
the Almighty and open to participants of any ethic background, sex, age, or physical and social condition. The particular ritual details practiced in a camp tied the Sun Dance to the heritage and traditions of the people making up a majority of the camp but were not considered the exclusive way to worship the Almighty.
The Sun Dance is usually a four-day ceremonies, which began to prepare the final day of the sunset from four to eight days, ending at sunset.
The trends of ceremonies suggests the continuity between life and death. The key of the Sun Dance is regeneration. The Sun Dance indicates the renew of life and never ending, as well as mentions about the symbolic of the Sun Dance- the real cycle of death and rebirth. In addition, the other elements of the Sun Dance are: it was usually preceded by a sweat-lodge ceremony for purification; Dancers danced around a cottonwood pole (symbolizing the grandfather) for a period of days, during which they fast and abstained from drink; The male dancers may have undergone a piercing in which: cuts are made to the chest or back and a wooden skewer is inserted through the wounds and the dancers and are tied to buffalo skulls or to a ceremonial cottonwood pole in the center of the camp; The dancers then underwent self-torture designed to extricate themselves from the skewers. The dancers danced to a drumbeat often to special arrangements of dance steps; Offerings, were typically made, special songs are sung, and incantations per prayers are recited; Sacrifice of the buffalo, which the animal symbol of the sun was part of the
ceremony.
Furthermore, when it comes to their thought, they believe that the sacrifice of the sun dances was considered beneficial to the individual, the tribe, and the entire cosmos. In the conclusion, as far as concerned about the relationship between social significance of the Sun Dance, it is easy to define that the Sun Dance strengthened values and institutions of society, the Sun Dance was produced by the Creative Native American tribes people, this meaningful and significant dance are the successful production of culture and history, the people should continue make research about this splendid culture.