 |
||
 |
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
| The Sun Dance is an ancient ritual of the Sioux Nation that lived tribally from the 16th century in land stretching from Western Minnesota to Wyoming. "Sioux" is a French corruption of the original Chippewa name for these tribes which meant "Little Snakes". From 1700 to 1750, the Tetons, Yanktons and Sissitons engaged in a territorial war with the Mandans, Arikaras, Hidatsas, Minnetarees, Ohmahas and Poncas for control of Eastern Dakota. They won and dominated most of the territory into the 19th century.
The Eastern Sioux, or "Santees", lived in lands from Lake Traverse to the Missouri River; they spoke one dialect of which Assinibone is an offshoot. The Western Sioux, or "Lakotas", lived in lands from the Missouri River far into Wyoming and spoke Lakota. Lakota tribes include: Upper & Lower Brules, Ogalalas, San Arcs, Blackfoot, Miniconjous, Two Kettles and Hunkpapas. Both Eastern and Western Sioux peoples practiced the Sun Dance as a rite of passage, tribal healing and a way to connect with the "Great White Spirit". The Sun Dance was outlawed in the early 1900s by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (B.I.A.) because it was "barbaric and un-Christian." The Sun Dance violated the Bureau’s long-lasting policy of "assimilation" of the redman into white culture. It was only practiced rarely and in secret until a revival of traditional ways in the 1970’s. |
||
|
|
||