A Plains ceremony, not a general Apache one
The title of this article treats the Sun Dance as an Apache ceremony. The accurate picture is more limited. The Sun Dance is a ceremony of Plains nations, practiced in different forms by peoples such as the Lakota, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, Crow and others, each with their own meaning, protocols and history. It is not a ceremony of the Apache peoples as a whole. Most Apache nations, including the Western Apache, Chiricahua, Mescalero and Jicarilla, did not have the Sun Dance as a central ceremony.
The exception worth noting is the Plains Apache, historically known as the Kiowa Apache, who lived on the southern Plains of what is now Oklahoma and Texas in close association with the Kiowa. Accounts describe their association with the Kiowa Sun Dance, but the extent and nature of their participation was limited and specific, and it should be described by the Plains Apache themselves rather than generalised. The Kiowa Apache name is an older outside label, and the nation today is called the Plains Apache.
Why the confusion arises
Several things contribute to the idea of an “Apache Sun Dance”:
- Popular images of Native America often treat Plains customs as typical of all Native nations.
- The Plains Apache are Apache, and their participation in a Plains ceremony can be turned into a claim about all Apache.
- Ceremonies like the Ghost Dance, which spread across many nations in 1890, are sometimes confused with the Sun Dance, and Apache involvement in both was limited and varied, and the Ghost Dance and Apache communities’ responses to it were not uniform.
- Online and tourist-oriented writing often mixes traditions, with little care for which nation they belong to.
Repeating that “the Apache” held the Sun Dance as a traditional ceremony would be inaccurate. A more careful statement is that the Sun Dance is a Plains tradition in which some Plains Apache had a role.
What the Plains Apache documentation says
The Plains Apache are one of the Apache nations today, and their tribal headquarters are in Oklahoma. Historical records place them on the southern Plains, in contact with the Kiowa, Comanche and others, and they shared aspects of Plains life, such as bison hunting and the use of horses. Their Apache language links them to other Apachean groups, but their ways of life differed from those of Southwestern Apache nations.
Accounts of the Kiowa Sun Dance say the Plains Apache had a recognised place in it, but details are limited and sources differ in emphasis. The Kiowa Sun Dance is generally said to have last been held in its full form in the late 1880s, a period when government pressure on Plains peoples was intense. This article does not give more specifics, because the sacred content of the Sun Dance is not published here and because the details belong to the nations involved.
Suppression and revival
The Sun Dance was among the Native ceremonies that the United States government sought to suppress in the late nineteenth century. The Code of Indian Offenses, issued in 1883, restricted a number of Native religious practices, and enforcement varied by place. Some Plains communities continued ceremonies in secret or adapted them, and many later revived them as restrictions eased. Religious freedom for Native Americans was only gradually protected in law, and the story is complex. The long Sun Dance ban and revival, and the wider question of Apache religious freedom, belong to that history.
For Plains Apache people, as for others, the history of suppression and the present choices about participation are theirs to describe. Outsiders should avoid assuming that a ceremony is “lost” or “revived” in a particular way without hearing from the community.
What is central for most Apache nations
For many Apache nations, especially the Western Apache and Mescalero, a more central public ceremony is the girls’ Sunrise Ceremony, a multi-day community event marking a girl’s passage to womanhood. Other Apache traditions include ceremonies for healing and public dance traditions such as those of the Crown Dancers, also called Mountain Spirit dancers. These vary by nation and are generally not open to casual observers. The ceremonial calendar of each nation differs, and the different Apache nations should not be assumed to share one.
Respect and caution
Sun Dances today are sacred events within the nations that hold them, and many do not welcome photography, tourism or casual attendance. Information found online about “Apache Sun Dances” should be checked against the nations’ own sources. If you want to learn more, the cultural offices of the Plains Apache Tribe and other Apache nations, as well as published work by Native authors, are the right places to start. Where an answer is that something is not shared publicly, that is an answer worth respecting.