7 Incredible Native American Rituals

For the second Native American themed post of November, I decided to go with Native American rituals. I did a post on rituals already, but there are so many cool native American ones that I decided to cover some of them in a second post. Some are pretty intense, while others simply capture a moment in native history. Below are 7 of the most incredible Native American rituals I was able to find. Enjoy.

7. Gauntlet

I heard of this is an old Elton John song called “Indian Sunset.” Why a British pop star felt he needed to sing about the plight of the Sioux is beyond me, but it got me to do a little research. Gauntlets exist in many cultures including that of the Sioux. The gauntlet consisted of two lines of warriors (making a little-kid soccer game tunnel) holding sticks (or worse things i.e. chords, chains or even blades). A prisoner, or the person being punished, is forced to run between the two lines while the warriors beat/whip him. John Smith, famous early colonist, claimed he was forced to run the gauntlet by Powhatan and his east coast tribe.

6. Lacrosse

Before it was played almost exclusively by upper class white kids, lacrosse was a native American game. The original version could have anywhere from 100-1000 players and a field of up to 3km. The game was sometimes played in honor of the Creator and was supposed to simulate warfare. This meant no pads for these guys. This was about honor and showing off your skills. They loved playing so much that games were sometimes as long as three days.

5. Vision Quest

This is probably the ritual that the most people are familiar with. Many different cultures send young men on a vision quest to initiate him into adulthood. My favorite is the Inuit vision quest. It lasts one to four days and the young man is not allowed to eat or come into contact with anyone. On top of no food, the boy is sleep deprived as well. Once the quest is over the boy returns home and explains what he saw and his purpose. Pretty insane thing to make a kid do, but a cool way to build character.

4. Pow-Wow

Pow-Wows have become the most popular modern native ritual and are held all over the United States today. Generally a pop-wow consists of singing, dancing and telling traditional stories. They can last anywhere from a day to a week. In the modern day, these events are like fairs and both native Americans and tourists can enjoy displays of culture and traditional native dress, song and stories.

3. Aztec Ball Game

Now this is a very cool game. Two teams use their hips, elbows, feet and knees to knock a 9lb rubber ball through one of two hoops on the wall. There is a common misconception about this game; that the losing team was sacrificed to the gods. This is only half true. Most of the time, the game was played for fun like any of the games we play today. However, there were occasions where teams were sacrificed for losing. This would only have been on a holy day or if the game was being played by people that had already been picked to be sacrificed. I honestly think it would be pretty fun (minus the heart getting torn out if I lose part).

2. Ghost Dance

The Ghost Dance was part of a movement that occurred in 1890. It came about largely because of a Native American holy man named Wovoka. In an era were native land was dwindling away to nothing and military resistance was becoming increasingly impractical, many native American’s were looking for anyway to save their traditional way of life. Wovoka claimed that if the dance was conducted properly by enough people that peace and unity would come to the natives and the white people would be driven away. I truly doubt that Wovoka believed this, but he created a large movement and Ghost Dances were held all over the West. The movement suffered a hit shortly after the Wounded Knee massacre of 1890. Natives feared military attack if they gathered again in large numbers and the Ghost Dance movement slowly died.

1. Sun Dance

My favorite ritual. A professor I once had explained that during the Sun Dance, a Lakota warrior would walk up to a tall pole sticking out of the ground. From the top of this pole hung two ropes with hooks on the ends. The warrior inserted the hooks through the skin of his chest and leaned all the way back so that the lines were taut. The dance would end in either one of two ways. Either the warrior would quit after a while or the hooks would rip through the skin on his chest and the dance would be considered completed. My professor said some warrior’s chests were covered in scars from the many times they had done the Sun Dance.