O, Wakan Tanka, be merciful to me that my People may live. It is for this that I am sacrificing myself.
The Sun Dance was held every year in June (the moon of fattening) or July (moon of cherries ripening) when the moon was full. It was first revealed in a vision to a Lakota named Kablaya. Wakan Tanka told him that his People had become lazy in their prayers, so he sent them a new way of praying-the Sun Dance. In a Sun Dance, dancers offer their bodies as a sacrifice on behalf of all the people. Through their sacrifice, the people gain strength and understanding.

In the old days, a large tipi was built and several ritual objects gathered or made. One of these was a round rawhide circle, representing the sun. It was painted red, with a smaller blue circle in the center, which represented Wakan Tanka. Many singers came to sing the sacred songs, and a drum (its roundness representing the universe, its steady beat the pulse of the heart) was brought.

Central to the ceremony was a cottonwood tree, a "rustling" tree, which was placed at the center of the tipi. It represented an enemy who has been attacked and conquered. A group of people wen out to find the cottonwood, and when they did, a sacred Pipe was smoked. One person was selected to make the first cut on the tree. This symbolized counting coup on the tree, or enemy. Others then helped cut it down, but it was not allowed to touch the ground. The tree was carried back to the dance place and put into the earth at the center of what became the sweat lodge. Then all of the ritual objects and the tree were purified with the smoke of sweetgrass.

A sweat lodge was built around the tree and the chosen dancers entered it and were purified in an Inipi. The Pipe was smoked and sacred songs were sung. One of them was:

The Sun, the Light of the world.
I hear him coming.
I see his face as he comes.
He makes the beings on earth happy
And they rejoice.
O, Wakan Tanka, I offer to You this world of Light.
-- Black Elk's The Sacred Pipe.
 

Wreaths of sage were placed on each dancer's head. Then each described what s/he would sacrifice. The sacrifice was either pieces of flesh or piercing of the flesh. Flesh represents ignorance, so the tearing or cutting of the flesh represented freeing the body from the bonds of ignorance.

On the final day of the Sun Dance, some dancers had their flesh pierced, and rawhide thongs were threaded through the flesh and tied to the tree. Wreaths of sage were placed on each dancer's head and around their wrists and ankles. As they danced, they blew eagle bone whistles. As singing and drumming continued throughout; they danced until the thongs break free. Other offered pieces of flesh to Wakan Tanka, to the Earth or the four powers of the four directions.

When the dance was done, the dancers went into the sweat lodge and smoked a Pipe. Then all returned to the tipi and a feast was held.

Whereas the Sacred Arrow Renewal is unique to the Cheyenne, the Sun Dance is common to most Plains Indians. The central theme of Sun Dance for the Cheyenne is world renewal. The Sun Dance lasts eight days: four days to build the dance lodge and perform secret rites in the Lone Tepee and four days for the public dance in the Sun Dance Lodge.
One becones a sponsor of the Sun Dance much the same way as for the Arrow Renewal, for personal reasons. The sponsor or pledger is called "the Reproducer". That is the tribe is renewed and increased in numbers as a consequence of the Sun Dance. The pledger may not have sexual relations with his wife for the time he pledges until the completion of the dance. If they do have sexual relations, the will die. The warriors in the pledger's society pick the priest who will enact the part of the Great Spirit. The warriors also give gifts to help defray the cost of the event and direct certain parts of the ceremony.

During the first four days, the participants and others rehearse the Sun Dance songs, feast, and exchange gifts and participate in social dances. This is a time for socializing, feasting and gambling. The entire canp is filled with an atmosphere fo fun and happiness.

The building of the Sun Dance lodge is filled with ceremony. A warrior is selected to find a suitable tree for the center pole. He brings the cut tree into camp. In mock battle, braves charge at the branches of the tree. Then the other poles are cut and painted to represent the four directions. The center pole is the last to be set in place and is done so with ritual and sacrifical offerings. Brush is added to the upper end of the pole to be the nest of the Thunder-bird, the spirit who controls the sun and rain. In the nest is a "broken arrow, Symbolic of enemy arrows which are thus made useless, a bit of buffalo meat, symbolic of the major food supply, a rope representation of the morning star, and a phallic rawhide effigy of an enemy tribesman" (Hoebel, 1979: 21). As the pole is raised, songs are sung relating to the growth of the earth.

The day the lodge is finished, the priests sing ceremonial songs and dancers dance prescribed dances. It is the time for the great act of regenerative consecration. The high priest and the pledger's wife step over burning incense with a buffalo robe around them to be purifies. The pledger's wife then leads the priests out of the lodge. Outside the lodge they stop and pray for the regeneration of the world.

The high priest and the pledger's wife are left alone as the other priests return to the lodge. One of the priest's shout out that the high priest is about to perform the ritual act on behalf of the entire tribe. The high priest and pledger's wife again purify themselves with incense and sing the sacred pipe song while raising the pipe to the sky four times. Then within the buffalo robe, they have sexual intercourse, a ritual to renew the world. Then the dancing begins.

The next day the priests, wife of the pledger, and wife of the high priest build an altar around the sacred buffalo skull (which was prepared in the lone Tepee) in the dance lodge.

The dance itself involves voluntary self-torture in hopes of having good fortune as a result of having been seen favorably by the supernatural spirits. The dancers also gain social prestige and approval. A dancer is attached to a pole by cutting two holes in his skin above his nipples. Skewers are pushed through the holes and ropes hung on the pole are attached to the skewers on both ends. The dancer then dances all night attached to the pole until the skin breaks. If the skin hos not broken by morning, a medicine man will cut the skin or a dancer may jerk back in hopes of breaking the skin. There may also be variations in this. The skewers may be attached to the face or over the shoulder blades. Some may have skewers put in their backs which are attached to as many as fifteen buffalo skulls. The buffalo skulls are dragged around the camp circle. If the skin has not broken when the dancer is finished with the dance he has pledged the skin is cut away (Hoebel, 1979: 18-22).

According to John Stands in Timber, "the torture never was part of the ceremony at all. It began by itself and then got worked in until people thought it belonged." "Young men would go out in the hill for individual fasting and worship" (Hoebel, 1979: 93). Once a young man got permission to do it in the Sun Dance lodge, and then it became popular to do it in the lodge instead of out in the hills.

The dance lasts four days and nights. The dancers go with out food and water for many hours as a sacrifice for aid. Personal tortture was added at the end of the ceremony (Stands in Timber, 92-93).

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