The traditional symbolism of the Sun Dance Lodge among the Wind River Shoshoni

Abstract

Of all the North American Indian religious ceremonies no one is as spectacular and as well-known as the Sun Dance of the Plains Indians. The information collected on the subject since the turn of the century is quite extensive. However, while there is a mass of materials on the outer features of the Dance, on behavioural and ritual aspects, there is very little information on its religious aspects, in particular the meaning of the ritual.The following account is an attempt to view the religious symbolism of the Wind River Shoshoni Sun Dance lodge in a "meaningful" perspective. Attention is paid not only to the ideology of the Dance as such but also and foremost to the concrete elements of the Sun Dance structure which together throw further light on this ideology. A particular place in the analysis will be devoted to a new scholarly interpretation according to which the Shoshoni Sun Dance serves as a revitalization cult.

Keywords

• Symbolism
• Indians of North America -- Dances
• Shoshoni Indians
• Dance, Religious
• Ritual
• Shamanism -- United States