Something Good: Jingle Dress Dance to Heal the World

Tell me something good ….

Buried amidst the bad news stories and videos, a CBC News article caught my eye. The headline was

“Indigenous jingle dress dancing goes ‘viral’ on social media to help heal the world”

Last week, a Facebook call-out was made for indigenous girls to dance the Jingle dance to support  people hurt by COVID19.  In Native American culture, the Jingle dance is thought to have special healing powers. The call-out had an enthusiastic response from girls across Canada and US, including six year Kree Spence from Thompson, Manitoba.

 

The origins of the Jingle dress dance is especially significant to our current times.

It was during the early 1900s when Spanish influenza was killing hundreds of people. A young girl lay deathly ill while her father hoped for cure. He’d had a dream about a jingle dress and dance, which some women were trying to recreate. While they danced the little girl roused from her fever. As she listened, she felt better, energized by the rhythmic beat of the drums and jingle of the bells. Eventually she felt good enough to join the dance and was subsequently cured.

If you’d like to read the full article, here’s the link to CBC News,  March 19, 2020: Indigenous Jingle Dress Dancing goes ‘Viral’

A while back, I had photo shoot with model Saga, featuring the Jingle Dress.  Saga was a regular participant in Pow Wows and had agreed to pose with her regalia.  I talk more about the shoot in this post, but here’s a quick view of Saga’s spectacular Jingle dress.

 

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How are you doing these days?  Keeping well and keeping close to home, I hope.

Like much of the rest of the world, my city is in official lock down.  All non-essential businesses have been ordered closed and everyone has been told to stay at home. While many of us were doing this anyways (this is my second week of ‘shelter in place’), it is now mandated.  I won’t describe the disruptions. I’m sure you’ve either experienced it or read about it elsewhere.  No need to read more gloomy news.

In fact, it’s the gloomy news that’s been spurring me on, to find more articles like this one.  The articles that tell me something good.   I find it restorative to read positive stories but it’s  been a challenge to find them. There seems to be more negative news than positive ones. Worse, there’s been a rash of falsely positive stories; like the dolphins swimming in the canals of Venice. These fabrications serve only to misinform and disappoint.

And so I’ve made a resolution. It is to share stories that tell of something good.

Do you have one? Will you share it and tag it Something Good? Maybe we can start a trend.

Until then,

Sandy.

Toronto, Canada. March 2020