| OCR Text |
Show The Ute People 5 Another important religious ceremony was the Sun Dance. This dance originated with the Plains Indians perhaps as early as 1700. The Ute People began sponsoring the Sun Dance about 1890. As the white invaders pushed the Ute People off their land and forced them to live on the reservation in poverty and disgust, they began to lose their self-respect. The Sun Dance, with its communication with the Creator, helped to give back to the Ute People a sense of renewed self-esteem. The Sun Dance was not merely a religious experience to the Ute People. Different from the Bear Dance, the Sun Dance had rigid rules. Also, it created a one-to-one relationship with the dancers and the Creator, rather than with couples, as the Bear Dance did. The Sun Dance continues to be held annually in July, when the Sun Dance Chief receives a vision. A large center pole is cut and twelve other poles are cut and connected to the center pole, making the Sun Dance Corral. The dancers approach the center pole and return in a dancing manner. The dancers continue for three days and nights without food or water. They begin the ceremony each morning by praying to the Sun for renewed strength. At the end of the three days the dancers are so weak and humble that they begin to communicate with the Creator by having visions. Through these visions they ask for strength and power, for curing of the sick, and for general welfare of the Ute People. */â- |
