sun dance
a religious ceremony associated with the sun, practiced by North American Indians of the Plains, consisting of dancing attended with various symbolic rites and commonly including self-torture.
Origin of sun dance
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Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use sun dance in a sentence
If they would honour him once a year in a sun dance he would consent to heal their sick.
The Myths of the North American Indians | Lewis SpenceThe wailing of the children at the sun dance as their ears were slit will always be to me a most distressing memory.
It is stated by Kelly that all warriors who go through the sun dance of the Sioux rank thereafter as medicine-men.
This would indicate a vestige of tree worship, such as is to be noticed also at the sun dance of the Sioux.
If he wishes for sun or wind or rain, "he summons his tribe, and dances a sun dance or a wind dance or a rain dance."
Political and Literary essays, 1908-1913 | Evelyn Baring
British Dictionary definitions for sun dance
a North American Indian ceremony associated with the sun, performed at the summer solstice
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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