Sun Dance - Sun Dance in Canada

Sun Dance in Canada

Although the Government of Canada, through the Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, persecuted Sun Dance practitioners and attempted to suppress the dance, the ceremony itself was never officially prohibited. The flesh-sacrifice and gift-giving features were outlawed in 1895 through a legislated amendment to the Indian Act. Regardless of the legalities, Indian agents, based on directives from their superiors, did routinely interfere with, discourage, and disallow Sun Dances on many Canadian plains reserves from 1882 until the 1940s. Despite this, Sun Dance practitioners, such as the Plains Cree, Saulteaux, and Blackfoot, continued to hold Sun Dances throughout the persecution period, minus the prohibited features. Some practiced the dance in secret, and others with permissions from their agents. At least one Cree or Saulteaux Rain Dance has occurred each year since 1880 somewhere on the Canadian Plains. In 1951 government officials revamped the Indian Act and dropped the legislation that prohibited the practices of flesh-sacrificing and gift-giving.

In Canada, the Plains Cree call this ceremony the Thirst Dance; the Saulteaux (Plains Objibwa) call it the Rain Dance; and the Blackfoot (Siksika, Kainai, and Piikani) call it the Medicine Dance. It was also practiced by the Canadian Dakota and Nakoda, and the Dene.

In most Sun Dance cultures, it is forbidden to film ceremony or prayer, so few images exist of authentic ceremonies. In Alberta, the Kainai Nation permitted their Sun Dance to be filmed in the late 1950s, when tribal leaders were concerned that the traditional ceremony might be dying out. The result was the 1960 National Film Board of Canada documentary Circle of the Sun.

In some cases many family members and friends come to watch and support the dancers. People camp out at the site for many days. In preparation for the Sun Dance wood needs to be gathered, medicines picked, the site planned, offerings made, elders consulted, trees chosen, trees cut, and feast food made. Much time and energy by many are needed for the entire Sun Dance to work. There are many helpers. Usually there is one leader or a small group of leaders in charge of the ceremony, but many elders help out and advise. Manitoba archival photos of the Sun Dance clearly show that the ceremonies have stayed quite similar since at least the early 1900s.

For a lot of tribes it was a test to find hunters. The dancer would dance for days without food or water and when they fell down or tripped the piercings tore the skin. The longer they did it for and the more marks from the piercings they got the more respect they would get. Tripping on purpose was never done because most of the dancers were serious about it and had to much honour to purposely fall. The reason why they did this was to pick hunters because hunters needed to be tough, strong willed and were able to cope with hunger and thirst because hunters ran out of food hunting if the hunt was prolonged