Ute Bear Dance

Ute Bear Dance

May, Memorial Day weekend

An ancient ceremony of the Southern Ute Indians, the Ute Bear Dance is now held on the Sunday and Monday of Memorial Day weekend in Ignacio, Colo. Originally the ritual was held in late February or early March, at the time when bears awaken from their hibernation. It stemmed from the belief that the Utes were descended from bears, and the dance served both to help the bears coming out of hibernation and to gain power from them, since bears were believed to cure sickness and to communicate with people in the Spirit World.
Today the dance is largely a social occasion, and is what is called a women's dance, since the women ask the men to dance. This practice is rooted in the habits of bears: supposedly the female bear wakes first and then chases the male bear. In earlier days, two bears—a man and woman wearing bearskins, with red paint around their mouths to suggest the bloody ferocity of the bears—romped around a corral, the female chasing the male, and both responding ferociously toward anyone who might laugh. In the present-day dance, lines of women and men advance toward each other, gradually dancing in pairs. The dancing goes on until sunset, when there is a feast.

CONTACTS:
Southern Ute Tribal Council
P.O. Box 737
Ignacio, CO 81137
970-563-0100; fax: 970-563-0396
www.southern-ute.nsn.us

SOURCES:
EncyNatAmerRel-2001, p. 15
HolSymbols-2009, p. 992
IndianAmer-1989, p. 121