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Women's Jingle Dress
The jingle dress has its origins with the Ojibway people of the North. Legend has it that a man's granddaughter was dying from a very serious illness. Every day he prayed to the Creator and asked that her life be spared. One night, he had a dream that she was dancing in a dress covered with tin cones. For four days, the grandfather prayed as he made the dress and covered it with cones rolled from snuff can lids. When the dress was finished, a special ceremony was held to honor the dream and the dress. When he put the dress on his granddaughter, she immediately got up and started to dance. The healing powers of tobacco and the crisp jingling sound of the cones pleased the spirits and cured her of her illness.
The jingle dress is covered with 366 cones, one for each day of the year and one for the dancer who wears beaded leggings and moccasins and carries a beaded bad and fan.
The dance is characterized by the dress and light footwork danced close to Earth Mother. She dances in a snake-like pattern around the drum. Her feet never cross, nor does she dance backward or turn a complete circle.
A Jingle Dress Dancer in motion between two Women's Traditional Dancers
Photo by Erin Clements from the 2000 Pow wow