Porcupine, a Cheyenne man - ca. 1910

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He’s wearing a wreath of cottonwood leaves on his head, possibly to protect his head from the sun during a Sun Dance.

The Sun Dance is celebrated primarily by tribes in the Upper Plains and Rocky Mountain areas and takes place around the summer solstice (the time of longest daylight), lasting anywhere between 4-6 days, with preparations beginning up to a year before the ceremony.

It begins with the ceremonial felling of a tree that will be erected in the centre of an arbor lodge, built by the tribe, in which the Sun Dance will be held. Participants of the sun dance, as well as those who do not dance, would pray for spiritual renewal in addition to the renewal of Earth and her resources.

Some dancers go through a ritual self-sacrifice, hoping to attain supernatural aid and individual power through their suffering. They were pierced through the breast or shoulder muscles and with skewers tied to the centre tree pole. As they danced, they pulled away from the pole until their skin tore from their bodies.

In the late 1800s the US and Canada outlawed the practice of Sun dances. One reason for the ban was because of the voluntary self-torture at the climax of the ceremony, which settlers found gruesome, but the main reason was the grand attempt to westernize Native Americans by forbidding them to engage in their ceremonies and speak their own language.

It was not until 1934 in the US and 1951 in Canada that the policy of government suppression of Sun Dances ended.

Most Sun Dances today are open for non-natives to observe, but some are not unless by invitation.