Jingle dress

Jingle dress

Jingle dress is a dance dress worn by women participating in the "Jingle Dress Dance" at a Pow wow. Made of cloth, the dress includes several rows of metal cones, which are sewn across the dress on the skirt (and blouse, in some areas). The metal cones create a jingling sound as the dancer moves. The Jingle Dress Dance is characterized by the jingle dress and light footwork danced close to ground. The dancer dances in a snake-like pattern around the drum; her feet never cross, nor does she dance backward or turn a complete circle.

Origins

Origin of the jingle dress is attributed to three different Ojibwa communities: Mille Lacs Indians, Red Lake Band of Chippewa and the Whitefish Bay Ojibwe. In both the Mille Lacs Indians and Whitefish Bay Ojibwe versions, the dress and the dance appeared in a recurring vivid dream that was realized about the year 1900. In both versions, the dream came to a "Midewinini". In both dreams, there were four women, each wearing a jingle dress and dancing. Each dream also gave instructions on how to make the dresses, what types of songs went with them and how the dance was to be performed. In the Mille Lacs' version, the "Midewinini" upon awakening, with his wife made four dresses. He showed his wife how to dance in the dress, which he showed to the four women he had dreamed about, by calling the four women who in his dream wore them, dressed them in the dresses, brought them forth at a dance, told the people about the dream, and how the way the "Midewikweg" were to dress and dance.

The Mille Lacs' version of the story continues that the reason for this recurring dream was because the daughter of the "Midewinini" was gravely ill. When it came time for the drum ceremony, the man and his wife brought their little girl. They sat at the ceremony, and the girl laid on the floor because she was quite ill. After the ceremony, the "Midewinini" got up and told the people about his dream. Then he brought out the four women and said they were going to dance in the style he had dreamed about. The drum started, the people began to sing, and the women danced. Soon, their daughter perked up, lifted her head to watch the women dance. As the evening went on, pretty soon she was sitting up and watching. Before the night was over, the girl was so moved by the dancers that she was following the women and dancing around.

Whitefish Bay's version is nearly identical, but with the ill child being the granddaugher of the "Midewinini". One night he had a vision of a spirit in a dress and the spirit told him that if he made this dress and put it on his grand daughter that she would become well. The medicine man made the dress and brought his grand daughter to the dance circle. The first round around the circle the girl could not walk so she was carried. The second time around the girl could walk but still needed help from some of the woman in the community. The next time around the circle the girl was able to walk by herself.

Due to both versions of the story, some women adopted the jingle dress as a healing dress. People often give jingle dress dancers tobacco to have them pray for themselves or people they care for that are not well.

Due to the strong family connections between the Removable and Non-Removable Mille Lacs Indians of the Mille Lacs and White Earth Indian Reservations, the Mille Lacs Indians' version spread to White Earth and to other Ojibwe Reservations. In the late 1920s, the White Earth people gave the jingle dress to the Lakota and it spread westward into the Dakotas and Montana.

Original Design

Jingle dresses were originally made of fabric in solid, "healthy" colors - red, green/yellow, black and blue. Each dress was adorned with jingles on the sleeves, the top, and one, two, or three rows of jingles on the bottom. The jingles were made from tin can lids, rolled into cones.

Contemporary Design

Contemporary jingle dresses, introduced in the 1980s, are made from multi-coloured fabric decorated with tin jingles, often made from lids of chewing tobacco cans. The jingle count on a child's dress is about 100 to 130 or 140, and for a woman's size the amount varies depending on the design of the dress. The contemporary dancer carries a feather fan, often wearing eagle plumes or feathers in her hair. Compared to the original dance, the contemporary dance can be fancier, with intricate footwork and the dress design is often cut to accommodate these footwork maneuvers. Contemporary dancers do often cross their feet, turn full circles and dance backwards. Such moves exemplify the differences between contemporary and traditional jingle dress dancing.

External links

* Examples of jingle dresses available at [http://www.littlecrowtradingpost.com/pagejingle.htm Little Crow Trading Post]
* [http://www.powwows.com/galleries/data/575/origjingle.wmv Video clip] from the National Museum of the American Indian 2005 National Pow wow

References

* DesJarlait, Robert. "The Contest Powwow versus the Traditional Powwow and the Role of the Native American Community", "Wicazo Sa Review", Vol. 12, No. 1 (Spring, 1997), pp. 115-127
* McCollum, Ray. [http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=3&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dhspublishing.com%2F_pdfs%2Fsaskindianfall02%2520.pdf&ei=I8L6RerMMYbKiwG0i82tDA&usg=__UlsFJ4gawMClNqaqPS_f5APUdX8=&sig2=ON448K7Lz6Z33_ZgGc_e5Q Saskatchewan Indian, Fall 2002]
* Sexsmith, Pamela. [http://www.ammsa.com/buffalospirit/2003/jingledance.html The healing gift of the jingle dance]
* Smallwood, Larry "Amik". [http://www.millelacsojibwe.org/cultureColumn.asp?id=115 The story of the Jingle Dress]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Pow wow — redirects here. For other uses, see Pow wow (disambiguation). Grand Entry at the 1983 Omaha Pow wow …   Wikipedia

  • Pow-wow — A pow wow (also powwow or pow wow or pau wau) is a gathering of North America s Native people. The word derives from the Narragansett word powwaw , meaning spiritual leader . A modern pow wow is a specific type of event where both Native American …   Wikipedia

  • Brulé (band) — Infobox musical artist Name = Img capt = Background = group or band Origin = flagicon|USA Lower Brule, South Dakota, United States Genre = Contemporary Native American Rock Pop Instrumental Years active = 1995 ndash;present Label = Buffalo Moon… …   Wikipedia

  • Native American music — Introduction       music of the indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere. The Americas contain hundreds of native communities, each with its own distinctive history, language, and musical culture. These communities although united in placing… …   Universalium

  • North Dakota — This article is about the U.S. state of North Dakota. For other uses, see North Dakota (disambiguation). State of North Dakota …   Wikipedia

  • Visual arts by indigenous peoples of the Americas — encompasses the visual artistic traditions of the indigenous peoples of the Americas from ancient times to the present. These include works from South America, Mesoamerica, North America including Greenland, as well as Siberian Yup ik peoples who …   Wikipedia

  • Anishinaabe traditional beliefs — Wabun redirects here. For the language spoken in Heian Japan, see Late Old Japanese. Pictographs of a mishibizhiw ( underwater panther ) as well as two snakes and a canoe, attributed to the Ojibwa. From Lake Superior Provincial Park, Ontario,… …   Wikipedia

  • Franny's Feet — is a 30 minute animated series for children. It is produced by DHX Media in Ontario, Canada. The show follows the adventures of 6 year old Frances Franny Fantootsie (a portmanteau of fantasy and tootsie , a slang word for foot ) as she tries on… …   Wikipedia

  • Culture of Saskatchewan — views the patterns of human activity in the central prairie province of Canada examing the way people live in the geography, climate, and social context of Saskatchewan. Cultural activities involve technology, science, as well as moral systems… …   Wikipedia

  • Pow-Wow — Grand Entry des Omaha Powwows 1983 Ein Powwow (auch Pow Wow oder Pow Wow) ist ein Treffen nordamerikanischer Indianer. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Etymologie 2 Geschichte …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”