The dancers performed sun dance around a large center pole, the tallest tree a chosen scout could fi
The dancers performed sun dance around a large center pole, the tallest tree a chosen scout could find. Participants consumed neither food nor drink. Piercing was central to the ceremony. Each dancer was prepared by having loose skin on his chest and shoulders pierced in several places; wooden skewers attached by lassos of rawhide were then inserted through the incisions and attached to the center pole. The participant danced with incresing vigor, pulling away from the pole, stretching his skin out, and trying to break it. “Every time a break was made in his skin,” as Sarah Olden described the traditional dance, “the relatives of the dancer had to give something to the poor. When all the skin was torn through, the women gathered around him and saing, ‘Li! Li! Li! Li! Li! Li! Li!’ ” to express their admiration for the dancer’s endurance and bravery. (Source: Blood Struggle: The Rise of Modern Indian Nations) -- source link