In fifteen pages this paper presents an overview of the Lakota culture and discusses the sun dance and that which is held sacred. Seven sources are cited in the bibliography.
Name of Research Paper File: AM2_PPnaSunD.rtf
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
The Sun Dance is
just one reflection of the complex spirituality which characterizes the Lakota Sioux. Intertwined with the Dance and the spirituality as a whole is the Sacred Pipe, Lakota oral history,
and even the most simplistic of their ceremonial lives. The Sun Dance, after all is a circular ceremony and one with no beginning and no end. Although the
Dancers of the Sun Dance gather and actually dance only at specific times, the Sun Dance interlaces all aspects of traditional Lakota culture. The purpose of this paper is
to provide a respectful overview of the Sun Dance from the perspective of an outsider. As is rightfully so, only the traditional Lakota people understand the full degree to
which the Sun Dance interlaces their culture. Only the traditional Lakota, therefore can understand the full meaning of this ceremony.
This paper is in no way intended as an intrusion on that sacred right, only as an overview for those who are interested in one of the most symbolic of
all Lakota ceremonies and in the way the Lakotas forced interaction with the U.S. government and the non-Indians that invaded their land at an early point in history has served
to impact the manner in which this ceremony is perceived and practiced. The Lakota view the Sun Dance as something which belongs to them and as something in which
non-Indians should not become involved. Examples of this sentiment can be found not only in contemporary times but also throughout Lakota interaction with non-Indians. In 1911, in an