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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

medicine dance

A four-day medicine dance is founded on the following legend: Two maidens lived at the bottom of a deep pit.

From The North American Indian by Edward S. Curtis

To further gratify my curiosity, the chief put on a portion of his fantastic regalia, and executed a medicine dance.

From Official Report of the Exploration of the Queen Charlotte Islands for the Government of British Columbia by Newton H. (Newton Henry) Chittenden

One of the wonderful things done by this man was at a medicine dance.

From Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk-Tales With notes on the origin, customs and character of the Pawnee people by George Bird Grinnell

Occasionally there was a medicine dance away off in the woods where no one could disturb us, in which the boys impersonated their elders, Brave Bull, Standing Elk, High Hawk, Medicine Bear, and the rest.

From Indian Boyhood by Charles Alexander Eastman

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 Walter Prichard Eaton

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