article

The Comanche Sun Dance

American anthropologist37Published In 1935 • Pages: 420-428

By: Linton, Ralph.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This document is an account of the Sun Dance, last held in 1878, based essentially on second hand evidence, since only one informant had actually witnessed the dance and his memory was vague. The dance was held at irregular intervals from 1860 on, usually with only part of the tribe participating. Apparently the purpose of the ceremony was partly to increase the importance of the medicine man, who remainded the central figure throughout, and partly to improve the well-being of the whole group, especially their physical health. The Comanche probably did not have the Sun Dance long enough to completely integrate it with the rest of their religion.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Organized ceremonial
Congregations
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Comanche
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2000
RegionThe area the document pertains to
North America
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Plains and Plateau
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
article
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Ethnologist
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
Timothy J. O'Leary ; 1959
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1933
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1700-1878
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
southwestern United States
NotesAdditional notes
Ralph Linton
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
17154241
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Comanche Indians