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One of a series of abstract pieces based on the dances of the native American desert and plains peoples. Before the Battle of the Little Bighorn Sitting Bull famously led a Souix Sun Dance of many hours, at the end of which (almost 2 days) he collapsed with a vision that the combined tribes would defeat the white man in battle, but also warned them not to take anything from the bodies of their defeated enemies (which was later ignored at great long term cost to the tribes). The sun dance, which continues to be performed by the Sioux in the present day, is a deeply sacred ritual performed around a tree placed at the center of an area representing the nation’s hoop. The dancers’ flesh is pierced, usually on the chest and/or back, and rawhide thongs are drawn through the piercings and attached to the tree. The dancers dance around the tree, sometimes for hours, pulling on the thongs until they break through the flesh. In a related sun dance ritual, men would carve small pieces of flesh from their bodies as an offering to the Great Spirit, an act called leaving a piece of flesh. (At least one-account reports that Sitting Bull left 100 pieces of flesh at the sun dance.) Young Hawk, an Arikara scout with Custer’s cavalry reported: "We came to an abandoned Sioux camp where we found a Sun Dance circle. I saw in one of the sweat lodges, where they had camped, three stones near the middle, all in a row and painted red. To the Sioux this meant the Great Spirit would give them victory. Another scout, named Soldier, saw four sticks standing upright and a buffalo calfskin tied on with cloth and other articles of value. All the Arikaras knew this was evidence of a great religious service. The offering meant the Sioux felt sure of winning."
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