Native American religions without chest piercing

I love the Native American pantheistic religion, but I do not quite go along with the need to injure and main yourself with the Sun Dance chest piercing ritual, not sure what it is called. Are there any that do not do that?

Almost all.
The Sun dance developed from a religious cult among a specific group of plains Indians.

Thirza Fallen said:

I love the Native American pantheistic religion, but I do not quite go along with the need to injure and main yourself with the Sun Dance chest piercing ritual, not sure what it is called. Are there any that do not do that?

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As mentioned, this was very rare amongst Amerindians. What was much more common was fasting to get in tough with one's totem (spiritual animal). Mine is the skunk, btw, which my wife says is very appropriate.

Hi Thirza,

Thirza Fallen said:

I love the Native American pantheistic religion, but I do not quite go along with the need to injure and main yourself with the Sun Dance chest piercing ritual, not sure what it is called. Are there any that do not do that?

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Valjean is correct. The Sun Dance has been isolated to Plains Indian religions (i.e. the Midwest), but has not been practiced elsewhere.

I want to clarify that there is no such thing as a singular Native American religion, but rather a plethora of native religions. Indeed, there were over 500 independent tribal nations prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus, many of which survive to this day. While there were certainly many shared religious ideas (especially between neighboring nations), and in spite of the heavy influence of Christianity and pan-Indian religious movements, each had, and continues to preserve (to varying degrees of success), its own unique religious traditions.

Anton Treuer is a great author to start learning about American Indians from, btw. I've read Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians and also his Atlas of Indian Nations, and highly recommend both. Everything is a particularly quick read, and highly informative about the most pressing points everyone in America should really know about American Indians.

Valjean said:

Almost all.
The Sun dance developed from a religious cult among a specific group of plains Indians.

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Oh, good. Thanks!

metis said:

As mentioned, this was very rare amongst Amerindians. What was much more common was fasting to get in tough with one's totem (spiritual animal). Mine is the skunk, btw, which my wife says is very appropriate.

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Oh, my. Do you have to sleep outside or take a bath in vinegar?

Kartari said:

Hi Thirza,



Valjean is correct. The Sun Dance has been isolated to Plains Indian religions (i.e. the Midwest), but has not been practiced elsewhere.

Anton Treuer is a great author to start learning about American Indians from, btw. I've read Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians and also his Atlas of Indian Nations, and highly recommend both. Everything is a particularly quick read, and highly informative about the most pressing points everyone in America should really know about American Indians.

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I will check those out. Thanks so much!

Thirza Fallen said:

Oh, my. Do you have to sleep outside or take a bath in vinegar?

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Tomato juice!

BTW, how this avatar became mine is due to a conversation with a woman who's Cherokee, and three of my four grandparents were Me'tis (French & Amerindian mix). However, I was not brought up in the tradition of the elders, so when she asked what my avatar was I couldn't answer her.

She then asked of there was any particular animal that I more related to, and I told her that I have had this dream of crawling through the high-weeds next door to where I grew up, ran across a skunk, we had a brief conversation, and then we continued on going in separate directions. I must have had that dream literally thousands of times over the years. Anyhow, she said that the skunk must be my avatar, so it is, although not here at RF.

How about you?

metis said:

Tomato juice!


She then asked of there was any particular animal that I more related to, and I told her that I have had this dream of crawling through the high-weeds next door to where I grew up, ran across a skunk, we had a brief conversation, and then we continued on going in separate directions. I must have had that dream literally thousands of times over the years. Anyhow, she said that the skunk must be my avatar, so it is, although not here at RF.

How about you?

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Oh shoot. Tomato juice is what I meant. You can take a bath and eat lunch at the same time! I keep dreaming about being late for school. Maybe my spirit animal is a turtle.