Spirit Dancers

Indian Spirit Dance ritual sparks uproar

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Once, twice, three times she immersed herself, witnesses recounted. The razor chill of the February air cut at her skin.

Fir trees soared above her. She stepped heavily from the water onto a carpet of spongy green moss. It muffled the sounds of the forest and cushioned her fall as she collapsed to the ground. Edwards, 36, was not the first to die during initiation to the Indian Spirit Dance on Vancouver Island. Nor was she the last. Her death in February was followed by that of Clifford Sam, 18, who died in a ceremonial longhouse just after Christmas while fasting during the once-banned Spirit Dance rites.

The uproar over their deaths has worried some native elders.

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In the public outcry from beyond their reservations, they hear an echo of the past, when the secretive Spirit Dance was outlawed in a prolonged wave of anti-Indian hysteria from to The Royal Canadian Mounted Police say no crime was committed and both deaths resulted from health complications. But the controversy has been stoked by historical frictions and by what many First Nations people see as a legacy of mistreatment that shuffled them onto reservations where they are disproportionately poor and unemployed.

To them, a major symbol of discrimination was the Indian Act of The Canadian ban was dropped in , and the Spirit Dance has since surged in popularity among the Coast Salish here and along the western fringes of the Canadian mainland. Supporters see the dance as a way to continue their traditions and increasingly as a remedy for the modern evils of alcoholism, drug abuse and poor health that have seized so many natives. But a few nonnative experts have been invited to witness the practice.

A potential dancer seeks a trance state, Amoss wrote, to receive a vision from the supernatural. The dancer translates that vision into a chantlike song and dance, accompanied by the tong-tong beat of native drums. The song represents a virtue or power bestowed by the spirits that will help the dancer through life. Some people seek that spiritual turning point voluntarily, but others are forced into it.

They are grabbed by men with black-painted faces and carried to the longhouse at the behest of other dancers or family members who feel the person needs reform. A laconic part-time logger and admitted drinker, he emerged from a shower in February and found a group of men waiting for him.

His girlfriend, Kim Johnny, had arranged to have Thomas taken to the longhouse. Thomas was carried to a waiting van and taken to the Cowichan longhouse, a wooden building where 4-foot logs burned on constant fires, venting smoke from a hole in the roof. Bryce Boyer and anthropologist Ruth M. Boyer, started documenting field work with Apaches on the Mescalero Indian Reservation in Additional Data , was published in January of in Western Folklore.

In that article, they provide a little insight into the origins of the Apache Clown and some of the other connotations commonly associated with Apache Crown Dancers ,. To the Apache, the Clown is a sacred being with great Power given to him by Thunder, or the "Thunder-Beings" themselves.

Native American Dances

He represents just what the power of thunder exacerbates, fear from a tremendous power in the sky, greater than anything that we see on the Earth. In this way, the manner of the Clown "fooling around" is anything but trite, instead, this is a serious spiritual element to the ceremony reflecting the randomness of catastrophe in his seemingly mad behavior, just as nature reminds us of our own mortality from time to time.

So, the latter part of his message is to always take the time to enjoy life and its' rewards by constantly reminding us about the ever present potential of experiencing sorrow through separation or even death. The meaning and importance behind love, friendship, family, and community are highlighted when they are placed into this context. Even notions like greed, hoarding, gluttony or selfishness are difficult to convey if that communication process is limited to just words. So, the Clowns , "clown around", by acting out against the social and cultural norms.

Native Skeptic

This "fooling around" is anything but uninspired. When in actuality, these are pivotal teaching tools. Education is far more than about teaching by example, than by teaching with words. By watching adults, children form experiences that shape their neural networks which determine their later life. To the child, the clown can seem to teach by example, or simply, through acting in ways we are not supposed to act.

Not only are these concepts fundamental, but these are considered to be part of an individuals' personal responsibility to understand.

Ethics and morals would undoubtedly spring from these ideals as well. The value and importance of sharing, working together, modesty, thoughtfulness, and spreading happiness are expressed by the clowns' seemingly wild and chaotic behavior, creating the ever present notion of unbalance amongst the balanced order of tribal rituals.

Eagle Spirit Dancers Native American Indian Dancing

But, at the same time, when you begin to convey the clowns' underlying message that you don't always initially see, balance is restored. Part of the Apaches belief incorporates the notion that certain excesses can make a person sick. This can include those using sacred practices, prayers, or any "special knowledge" to manipulate others for personal gain.

So, in a way, the clown serves as a protector to the people against certain kinds of charlatans. They make us think and question our own sense of reasoning. Acting with such erratic behavior can be paralleled to how art or comedy reaches another depth of meaning that can stimulate the emotional responses behind laughter and fear. Most people do not take the time to think why a joke is funny, but quite often comedy can tell us a lot about ourselves and current states of society.

The role of the clown is to teach you that very lesson through blatantly not teaching it, and they make us laugh by scaring us a little bit. That is at the heart of comedy, you take a thought or concept that should not be funny or serious, and you find a way to turn it on its' head to make it funny. Thereby, forcing the audience to think in a way that they might not have ever thought before. Clowns are considered to have the ability to heal and protect from disease, while they have access to the same knowledge as the medicine society, the clowns of the Western Apache prefer to prescribe "medicine" or methods displaying more preventative measures.

For instance, the clowns contradictory behavior embodies the idea that "evil cannot coexist in a place where happiness already resides". So, this coincides with the notion that part of Clowns' duty is to protect the people from enemies, including those foes posing threats to our very thoughts. We are being protected from any ill causing thoughts by lining our minds with the universal power of laughter and comedy.

The message in comedy might be simple, but it is still capable of deep rooted complexity because the language of humor is universal and can be comprehended by a range of age groups and across cultures. In many different types of cultures throughout history, the comedian reflects everyday life and the common pitfalls associated with living in the world.

The Apache Clown shows us some of these realities of being a person in the world, in his own "crazy" ways, by dramatizing them for us. They show us what is dark so that we may contrast it with what is light. They teach how life can be hard, but at the same time, they are conveying how we can make life easier or more manageable through simply being aware of these common issues. Clowns must "prepare us for the worst", for catastrophe may lie around the next bend.

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They reflect this to express the idea that chaotic things may happen to any of us, at any time or place along the "road of life". So, this is where collaboration becomes so evidently important to the ultimate survival of the tribe. Personal responsibility comes into play at the center of social order. In the early 's, the Unites States government banned the ritualistic practice of these Native American ceremonial dances, and those that did manage to still go on, were done so against the law in secrecy.

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For it wasn't until the year of , when the American Indian Religious Freedom Act was passed, that these ceremonies were openly re-established amongst the Native American people of the United States. So, in most cases, Native American ceremonies and healing rituals have lost their meaning amongst the younger generations. But, in the places that do manage to have sacred clowns in tribal societies, they have been able to integrate modern day elements into their culture through these tribal rituals.

However, some say that ever since these ceremonial practices were outlawed, they have never been quite the same.

Some of these kids come from Christian homes, go to church, and learn those traditions, but not the Apache traditions This is our heritage, and we have to keep it going.

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