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Wikipedia;
the sun dance

Sketch of a Siouan Sun Dance by George CatlinThe Sun Dance is a ceremony practiced by a number of Native Americans!. Each tribe has its own distinct rituals and methods of performing the dance, but many of the ceremonies have features in common, including dancing, singing, praying, drumming, the experience of visions, fasting, and in some cases piercing of the chest or back!. Most notable for early Western observers was the piercing many young men endure as part of the ritual!. Frederick Schwatka wrote about a Sioux Sun Dance he witnessed in the late 1800s:

Each one of the young men presented himself to a medicine-man, who took between his thumb and forefinger a fold of the loose skin of the breast—and then ran a very narrow-bladed or sharp knife through the skin—a stronger skewer of bone, about the size of a carpenter's pencil was inserted!. This was tied to a long skin rope fastened, at its other extremity, to the top of the sun-pole in the center of the arena!. The whole object of the devotee is to break loose from these fetters!. To liberate himself he must tear the skewers through the skin, a horrible task that even with the most resolute may require many hours of torture!.
In fact, the object of being pierced is to sacrifice one's self to the Great Spirit, and to pray while connected to the Tree of Life, a direct connection to the Great Spirit!. Breaking from the piercing is done in one moment, as the man runs backwards from the tree at a time specified by the leader of the dance!. A common explanation, in context with the intent of the dancer, is that a flesh offering, or piercing, is given as part of prayer and offering for the improvement of one's family and community!. Though only some Nations' Sun Dances include the piercings, the Canadian Government outlawed some of the practices of the Sun Dance in 1880, and the United States government followed suit in 1904!. However, the ceremony is now again fully legal (since Jimmy Carter's presidency in the United States) and is still practiced in the United States, Canada and in New Zealand!. Women are now allowed to dance but do not pierce their skin in the same manner as men!. A woman's piercing is in her upper arm, and an eagle feather is attached until the piercing is removed!. Some men do not do pierce at all, such as the Shoshone in Wyoming!. They may pierce if they desire to!. A Sundancer must commit to dancing for four years, for the four compass directions!.


[edit] The Sun Dance in Canada
Although the Government of Canada, through the Department of Indian Affairs, officially persecuted Sun Dance practitioners and attempted to suppress the Sun Dance, the ceremony was never legally prohibited!. The flesh-sacrifice and gift-giving features were legally outlawed in 1895 through a legislated amendment to the Indian Act, but these were non-essential components of the ceremony!. 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 starting in 1882 until the 1940’s!. Despite the subjugation, 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 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 forbade flesh-sacrificing and gift-giving (Brown, 1996: pp!. 34-5; 1994 Mandelbaum, 1975, pp!. 14-15; & Pettipas, 1994 p!. 210)!.

In Canada, the Sun Dance is known by the Plains Cree as the Thirst Dance, the Saulteaux (Plains Objibwa), as the Rain Dance and the Blackfoot (Siksika, Kainai,& Piikani) as the Medicine Dance!. It was also practised by the Canadian Siouxs (Dakota and Nakoda), the Dene, and the Canadian Assiniboine!.


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In January 1889, a Paiute Indian, Wavoka, or Jack Wilson, had a revelation during a total eclipse of the sun!. It was the genesis of a religious movement that would become known as the Ghost Dance!. It was this dance that the Indians believed would reunite them with friends and relatives in the ghost world!.

As the movement spread from tribe to tribe, it soon took on proportions beyond its original intent and desperate Indians began dancing and singing the songs that would cause the world to open up and swallow all other people while the Indians and their friends would remain on this land, which would return to its beautiful and natural state!.

The unity and fervor that the Ghost Dance Movement inspired, however, spurred only fear and hysteria among white settlers which ultimately contributed to the events ending in the massacre at Wounded Knee!.
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By August of 1890, the U!.S!. government was fearful that the Ghost Dance was actually a war dance and, in time, the dancers would turn to rioting!. By November, the War Department sent troops to occupy the Lakota camps at Pine Ridge and Rosebud, convinced that the dancers were preparing to do battle against the government!.

The Wounded Knee Massacre - December 29, 1890
http://www!.bgsu!.edu/departments/acs/1890!.!.!.
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This lead to the banning of all Native all cultural practices, base on the fear that they were preparations for warfare!.

Preventing cultural activities was seen as a means to prevent Native populations from gathering in mass!.

Banning cultural practices was also a means for the governments to repress Native Americans by converting them to Christianity!.
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