- Details
- By Rich Tupica
Back in 1918, “the mother of all pandemics'' swiftly spread influenza to 500 million people, one-third of the world’s population. It was a devastating two-year period that killed an estimated 17 million people globally. There was no vaccine to prevent it and no antibiotics to treat it. Control efforts were limited to non-pharmaceutical interventions, including quarantine, home remedies, good-hygiene practices and disinfectant use.
It was during that time of great sadness and uncertainty that the Jingle Dress — adorned with jingling metal cones — was created by three different Ojibwa communities: the Mille Lacs, Red Lake Band of Chippewa and the Whitefish Bay Ojibwe.
Also known as the Prayer Dress, the Jingle Dress is thought to bring healing to those who are sick. The dress and the Prayer Dress Dance have been mainstays of American Indian and First Nations pow wows.
Flash-forward to today, as our nation now fights the COVID-19 pandemic, and the inspiring rattle of the Jingle Dress has been making waves across social media, thanks to dancers who are sharing inspiring videos of themselves praying and dancing in the intricately-crafted regalia.
“We know today that there’s a lot about healing that can be done through medicine, but [there is] a psychological component that is less understood,” Brenda J. Child, author of My Grandfather’s Knocking Sticks, said in a previous interview with the University of Minnesota. “Their dance was part of this psychological component of illness.”
The dresses, which are commonly seen at Powwows across the country, jingle as the person walks and is said to spread healing.
Shyla Tootoosis, 11, is a young dancer from Thunderchild First Nation in Saskatchewan. Last month, Tootoosis was profiled by CBC reporter Rhiannon Johnson after she posted videos, along with help from her mother. “It's a really beautiful dance that provides healing," Tootoosis told CBC. “When I was growing up I was always taught to pray for one another, and it was a true honor to pray for the world.”
Last year, as the Jingle Dress turned 100 years old, the Mille Lacs Indian Museum and Trading Post unveiled its exhibition, Ziibaaska’ iganagooday: The Jingle Dress at 100.
Through photographs, oral tradition and a display of jingle dresses from the Minnesota Historical Society’s collections, visitors learn not only about the dress and dance, but also how its origin can be traced to the Mille Lacs Ojibwe. It’s set to run through October 2020, but (due to the COVID-19 crisis) please check for new dates and times.
Celebrating 10 years of Native News...
We launched Native News Online back in February 2011 with the belief that everyone in Indian Country deserves equal access to news and commentary pertaining to them, their relatives and their communities. That's why the story you’ve just finished was free — and we want to keep it that way, for all readers. We hope it inspires you to celebrate our first decade with a gift of $10 or more to Native News Online so that we can continue publishing more stories that make a difference to Native people, whether they live on or off the reservation. Your donation will help us keep producing quality journalism and elevating Indigenous voices. Any contribution of any amount — big or small — gives us a better, stronger future and allows us to remain a force for change. Donate to Native News Online today and support independent Indigenous journalism. Thank you.