What is Sun Dance?
The Sun Dance is a sacred ceremonial tradition practiced by numerous Indigenous Plains nations of North America, including the Lakota, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Blackfoot, Cree, and others. The ceremony centers on prayer, sacrifice, communal renewal, and connection to the Creator through days of fasting, dancing, and devotional practice. Participants dance continuously around a sacred tree while gazing toward the sun, enduring physical hardship as an offering for the wellbeing of their people. Historically suppressed by colonial governments, the Sun Dance remains one of the most significant and protected spiritual practices among Plains Indigenous communities.
Origins & Lineage
The Sun Dance predates European contact by centuries, though exact origins remain embedded in oral tradition rather than written records. Archaeological and ethnographic evidence suggests the ceremony was practiced across the Great Plains for at least 300-400 years before colonization, with some scholars suggesting deeper antiquity. Each nation developed distinct variations: the Lakota Wiwanyag Wachipi, the Cheyenne Sun Dance, and the Blackfoot Okan each carry unique protocols while sharing core elements of sacrifice, endurance, and communal prayer.
The U.S. and Canadian governments banned Sun Dance ceremonies between the 1880s and 1930s as part of broader efforts to suppress Indigenous spiritual practices. The U.S. ban was enacted through the Code of Indian Offenses in 1883, with enforcement lasting until the Indian Religious Freedom Act was not passed until 1978. During prohibition, some communities practiced in secret or modified the ceremony to avoid detection. The revival and continuation of Sun Dance in the late 20th century represents both cultural persistence and active reclamation of Indigenous sovereignty.
How It’s Practiced
The Sun Dance typically occurs in summer and lasts three to four days, though preparation may span weeks or months. The ceremony takes place within a circular arbor constructed around a sacred cottonwood tree, selected and ceremonially cut as the “Tree of Life” or center pole. Participants—those who have pledged to dance—fast from food and water while dancing from sunrise to sunset, moving back and forth between the tree and their designated positions.
Dancers wear specific regalia, often including skirts or aprons, and may paint their bodies according to instructions received in vision or from elders. Eagle bone whistles produce a constant, piercing sound throughout the ceremony. Some traditions include piercing: skewers are inserted through the chest or back skin and attached to the center pole or buffalo skulls by rope, and dancers pull against them until the skin tears free—a profound physical sacrifice offered for the people’s welfare.
Support roles are equally vital: singers and drummers maintain continuous sacred songs; family members prepare meals for witnesses and helpers; medicine people conduct rituals and provide guidance. The entire community participates as witnesses, creating a container of collective prayer. Each nation’s specific protocols, songs, and procedures differ and are closely guarded aspects of ceremonial knowledge.
Sun Dance Today
Contemporary Sun Dance ceremonies continue on reservations and in Indigenous communities across the Plains, carefully protected as sacred and often private events. Most Sun Dances are closed to non-Indigenous observers or require specific invitation and relationship with the community. The ceremony serves multiple functions: spiritual renewal, healing for individuals and communities, transmission of cultural knowledge to younger generations, and assertion of Indigenous sovereignty and religious freedom.
Non-Indigenous seekers occasionally inquire about participation, but most ceremonial leaders and communities maintain strict boundaries around who may attend or dance. This protection stems from centuries of cultural appropriation, exploitation, and the violation of sacred practices. Those genuinely interested in understanding Sun Dance are typically directed to published ethnographies, Indigenous-authored works, or public educational presentations rather than the ceremonies themselves.
Some Indigenous educators and artists share knowledge about Sun Dance through approved channels: museum exhibits, documentary films created with community consent, and academic publications by Indigenous scholars. These resources honor the ceremony while maintaining appropriate boundaries around sacred protocols.
Common Misconceptions
The Sun Dance is not a performance, spectacle, or festival open to the general public—it is a protected religious ceremony with serious spiritual commitments. The piercing aspect, while dramatic and often emphasized in historical accounts, is one element among many and not practiced in all traditions; reducing the ceremony to this single feature misrepresents its holistic spiritual purpose.
Sun Dance is not an ancient relic but a living, evolving practice. Contemporary ceremonies incorporate both traditional knowledge and adaptations relevant to current Indigenous life. The ceremony is not “shamanic” in the New Age sense—it exists within specific cultural contexts with defined roles, responsibilities, and years of training under recognized leaders.
Non-Indigenous people cannot simply “learn” Sun Dance from books or workshops. The ceremony requires community belonging, mentorship from recognized carriers of the tradition, and often a lifetime of relationship and responsibility within a specific nation and ceremonial community.
How to Begin
For Indigenous individuals drawn to Sun Dance, the path begins within your own nation or through respectful relationship-building with ceremonial communities. Seek out elders, attend public gatherings, and express your interest through appropriate cultural channels. Making a Sun Dance pledge is a serious, multi-year commitment that begins long before entering the arbor.
For non-Indigenous seekers, the most respectful approach is education rather than participation. Read works by Indigenous authors such as Thomas Mails’ “Sundancing at Rosebud and Pine Ridge” (created with Lakota advisors), or consult academic ethnographies produced with community consent. Support Indigenous sovereignty and religious freedom through advocacy rather than seeking access to closed ceremonies. Many Indigenous communities offer public powwows, cultural centers, and educational programs that welcome respectful learners—these are appropriate entry points for building understanding.