medicine dance

American  

noun

1. a ritual dance performed by some North American Indians to invoke supernatural assistance as for driving out disease.

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Etymology

Origin of medicine dance

First recorded in 1800–10

Example Sentences

It may be the boy’s medicine dance, part of the ritual which will keep harm away from him.”

From Boy Scouts in Glacier Park The Adventures of Two Young Easterners in the Heart of the High Rockies by Eaton, Walter Prichard

The medicine dance is a sacred rite, in honor of the souls of the dead; the mysteries of this dance are kept inviolable; its secrets have never been divulged by its members.

From Dahcotah Life and Legends of the Sioux Around Fort Snelling by Eastman, Mary H. (Mary Henderson)

Then we danced the medicine dance; and Kasiascall went alone to the country of the Chinooks, to the fort of the Boston men.

From The New Penelope and Other Stories and Poems by Victor, Frances Fuller

The object of the medicine dance is to work up the dancer to a state of trance, in which he receives a revelation in regard to the matter under consideration.

From The Arrow-Maker A Drama in Three Acts by Austin, Mary Hunter

The war dance and the medicine dance seemed the most popular.

From The Life and Adventures of Nat Love Better Known in the Cattle Country as "Deadwood Dick" by Love, Nat