The Sun Dance

THE great sacrificial Dance of the North American nomadic Indians, which is consecrated to the Solar Power, formerly included secondary rites that varied considerably according to the tribes: all sorts of mythological elements entered into its composition to such an extent in certain cases as to make the sun's role nearly pass into the background. But this complexity, normal in a fragmented and shifting world like that of the Red Indians, is not of a nature to invalidate the fundamental content of the ritual cycle in question; this content has in fact survived all the political and religious tribulations which the Indians have had to suffer for over a century.