The Sundance 7/10/2009

Friday Night, July 10, 2009

The Arapahoe Sundance

This evening I am excited to go to the Arapahoe Sundance at the Ethete Sundance ground. I need to explain some history as to why the Sundance is important. When the U.S. was moving the tribes to their new reservations they decided to split the Arapahoe tribe into North and South. The Northern Arapahoe were supposed to be given their own reservation in Montana, however, while they were traveling to that location the weather got bad, as it often does in Wyoming in the winter, and the tribe got stuck in the Shoshoni Wind River Reservation area. So the U.S. guards went to the Shoshone and requested that they allow the Northern Arapahoe Tribe to stay on the Shoshoni Reservation until the weather cleared up enough for them to continue on in the Spring.

The chief of the Shoshoni tribe at the time, as most know, was the famous Chief Washakie. He was a great chief because he tried to stay avoid fighting with the white man and instead was peaceful, which worked in favor for the Shoshoni because they are either one of, or the only tribe that was allowed to have a say as to where their reservation would be located. Their present reservation used to be their hunting grounds. Displaying great wisdom, when asked if their mortal enemies, the Arapahoe, could share their land for that short period of time, Chief Washakie agreed, stating that they were brother Indians and needed to look out for each other. Needless to say, the U.S. never moved the Northern Arapahoe and today the Eastern Shoshoni and the Northern Arapahoe share the reservation well.

Jumping back to the reason for this history discussion, the other half of the Arapahoe tribe, the Southern Arapahoe, were moved to Oklahoma where they still live today. The problem with this kind of split is that certain sacred items of the Arapahoe tribe had to go with one tribe or the other. The Northern Arapahoe took the sacred Tribal Pipe. This pipe has been passed down for generations since long ago and is a prized possession for the Northern Arapahoe. If a sundance is going to occur this pipe HAS to be present. Therefore, it is moved to the location of the sundance with great ceremony, and when I say moved, I mean it is literally walked in a procession by lots of men to the next destination. We saw them moving this pipe one day while Mark, Ed and I were traveling to a case. Mark was really excited because he had never seen this before and had always wanted to see it occur. The downside of this story is that because the Northern Arapahoe have the sacred Tribal Pipe, the Southern Arapahoe cannot have a sundance because they don’t have the Tribal Pipe. So if they want to participate in a sundance, they must travel to Fremont County during the Northern Arapahoe's Sundance. As you can imagine, this causes problems and tension between the Arapahoes as a whole.

The Sundance

Roni, Ed, and I arrived at the sundance in the afternoon around 5 pm. The sundance is set up with the center being the Sundance Lodge. This is made up a large tree standing in the middle and others surrounding it with poles positioned on these horizontally. Branches and smaller tree trunks with their branches still attached (Aspen I believe) are weaved into these horizontal poles making an enclosed structures. It has an opening on one side that allows individuals to enter and leave, and from which everyone can watch the ceremony. About a football field away from this structure are camps set up by the different families attending the sundance. Each family has a 'squaw cooler' which is a structure built in a similar fashion as that of the Sundance Lodge, but without the center tree trunk. Instead tarps or canvases are laid on top of the structure to keep it cool. Inside each structure is where the family has their stoves, tables, and other supplies. Around the squaw coolers there were tents, campers, and lots of teepees for the different families to stay in at night.

Now I mentioned before that Ed was adopted into an Indian family in the Taking of Relations Ceremony. Roni has also been adopted by a Sioux family. Ed’s family is Arapahoe and they are present at the Sundance every year. Every year Roni and Ed go and visit his family and eat with them in their squaw cooler, which is where we spent the majority of our time at this Sundance. Ed's adopted family was very interesting and more open with describing what was going on than I had been told they would be, although I made sure I didn’t ask them questions for fear of offending them. This was very hard for me as there were a lot of questions that came to mind, the first coming about when dinner was arriving.

When dinner was getting close there was a truck that arrived at the front of the squaw cooler. In the back of it there were multiple containers of food that arrived, all covered, and some that were packaged. Each, even if packaged, was placed in a container. All of this food was moved from the truck to one of the tables in the squaw cooler by kids. The women of the family we were with began counting how many items there were, thus the reason for the different containers. Another vehicle arrived with more food and all of this was carried in and placed on another table, and each of these were also counted. None of the items on either table were combined or moved once placed.

Then, I was asked to help the rest of the family move food items sitting on a back table to the back of their truck. Another back table also covered with food items was moved by others to a different truck. When both trucks were loaded, a group of us piled in the back of one truck and another group got into second truck and we all drove to different families’ squaw cooler. The truck that I was in was driven by the grandfather of the Ed’s family, Richard Ortiz. When we arrived at the other family’s squaw cooler we unloaded our truck and moved the food to their table. Then we drove back to the Ortiz squaw cooler. Confused? Let’s just say that I was totally lost and blindly followed directions.

When we got back to the Ortiz squaw cooler we were welcome to eat from both tables. There was a lot of food. Some of the interesting dishes included a camping tea pot filled with chokecherry gravy, and two aluminum trays with fry bread. Other dishes included meat dishes, different salads, vegetable soup, and watermelon. The chokecherry gravy was eaten by placing the gravy in a bowl and then dipping the fry bread into it. I found it very good! After everyone was done eating the women cleaned up the dishes and put the food into coolers which were positioned around the squaw cooler.

We sat and talked a while until there was an announcement over the loud speakers that the grandfathers needed to assemble at the Sundance Lodge for washing. We went over, making sure not to get too close, and watched as each sundancer left the Sundance Lodge and went to their respective grandfather, and male helpers, and began to dip sweet sage into the pails filled with water. Using the sweet sage they moved the water on the sundancer making a pattern. When this was done the sundancer was helped up from his seated position and given the bucket and sage to clean all the paint from the night before off his body. Some of the sundancers needed help to do this. So who is confused??? Ok let me explain what sundancing is before we go on.

A sundance is a very spiritual ceremony. When men choose to take part in this ceremony, their choice affects not only themselves but their families as well. They need to let their family know that they want to do it and then they have to respectfully ask an older man in the tribe to be their grandfather. If the older man accepts to be that man’s grandfather then he has a lot of work to do because he is in charge of watching over that man and his family during the ceremony. This is why the food was being exchanged between families at the Ortiz squaw cooler. There were two Ortiz men dancing so their grandfather’s families were bringing food to the Ortiz family. Since Richard Ortiz was asked by two men to be their grandfather his family was caring for both men's families.

Now the men that take part in the sundance are making a sacrifice to Great Grandfather, The Creator. The men stay in the Sundance Lodge for 3 days and 3 nights, going in on Thursday night and coming out Sunday night. They fast that whole time, consuming no water or food, and endure the heat of the day and the cool of the night. They only leave the lodge for cleaning themselves and when they have to go to the bathroom. When they go to the bathroom they are wrapped in a blanket, specially made for them, and are escorted by their grandfather and/or the grandfather’s male helpers. This is done so that the sundancer is not ever touched. They can’t be touched at all except by their grandfather and helpers and only then during certain parts of the ceremony. You have to be very conscious of where the dancers are when they are making their trips to the bathrooms, which can be at any time.

After the sundancers were bathed they then returned to the Sundance Lodge and their grandfathers and helpers begin the long process of painting them. The sundancers are dressed solely in gym shorts, so when I say painted, I mean their whole body is painted from their head to their toes. The only are that is skipped is the area the shorts cover, and this is covered by a skirt that is decorated and made specially for THAT man and THAT sundance. This is done in the lodge so we didn’t stay for that part, instead we returned to wait in the squaw cooler. We returned once the sun had set, and all men were painted and ready to dance.

Some men were painted with green circles on their faces symbolizing turtles. Turtles are a sacred animal to the Arapahoe because they believe that the U.S. is Turtleland because of the way it is shaped. Legend has it they were told by ancient explorers that all sides of the U.S. is surrounded by water, and long one way and short the other way, like a turtle. Some of the men were with black and white paint, while others were painted with red and black which are representative of the different races. Also, these are the colors of the Arapahoe flag: red, black and white.

At this time the sundancers stood in a circle inside the lodge, with their grandfathers and helpers positioned behind them. There was a group of men that beat on a drum, and a singer who sat in a circle outside of the lodge near the opening. As these men played and sang, the sundancers moved to the music. After the first line was sang by the singer, some men would blow on eagle whistles in beat with the music. Eagle whistles are made from the leg bone of an eagle and decorated with feathers. Willie plays one at times in the sweat lodge when he is asking for the spirits of those who have died to pass on. Together these whistles make high pitched squeals and are intended to attract the attention of eagles who will carry the people’s prayers to Great Grandfather. We watched them complete 7 songs before calling it a night and returning to the house. The men dance for at least 12 songs, sometimes more, and it is common for them to go until 2 or 3 am.

Oh, I need to mention the other people that fast at the same the men are fasting. Situated around the outside of the Sundance Lodge were women who had taken an oath to not eat while their brothers were in the lodge. These women had blankets hung up by the lodge to help keep the sun off of them. They were placed across from their brothers who they could talk to during the day. These women do not have any helpers, are not escorted places, and do not enter the lodge. From what I was told women don't need to do a sundance because women always have a spiritual connection with Grandfather because they give birth. For that reason men perform the majority of the ceremonies that require hardships, as they is how they can get close to Grandfather. It used to be women were not allowed to sweat for the same reason. When I heard this it brought me back to discussions that I have had with Chris Zimny about the Mormon religion.

Well, that is all I have. If anyone has questions just let me know and I can try to get them answered. Oh, and there aren’t any pictures here because they ask that none be taken. I was told you can be kicked out if you even have a camera on the sundance grounds, so needless to say, I did not carry my camera.