Definition of sun dance in English:

noun

• A dance performed by North American Plains Indians in honor of the sun and to prove bravery by overcoming pain.

  Example sentences

  • ‘I'd been reading a lot Native American literature, which talked a lot about the sun dance.’
  • ‘After being woken at dawn for a sun dance routine, the pair stayed awake to chat about Bez's angry reaction to the news that he'd been nominated yesterday..’
  • ‘Even their most sacred religious ceremony, the sun dance, has been disrupted by federal agents who ordered the ceremonial grounds to be flattened by bulldozers.’
  • ‘One need only note the permanent structures for sun dances and other native religious ceremonies that can be seen on most reserves.’
  • ‘Earlier that summer, perhaps in late June, Crazy Horse's people had hosted a sun dance.’
  • ‘It was an object that had been prayed over, if you will, by the leaders of the sun dance, and it had been around the sun dance fire.’
  • ‘But all the while, Robert Redford has been doing an altogether more literal kind of sun dance: preaching the clean-energy gospel at the grassroots, in the op-ed pages of newspapers, on the big screen, and inside the Beltway.’
  • ‘One breaks into an impromptu jig, or sun dance, or hobo shuffle, whatever, while the others clap the beat.’
  • ‘Chanting for summer, in my own urban sun dance, I'd voice my mantra to friends, ‘Today is the longest day of the year!’’
  • ‘Kip Rollins is a champion surfer who now does body-piercing and Indian sun dance rituals, rituals for initiation into manhood.’