Kiowa Sun Dance
The Sun Dance, also called the Medicine Lodge, was the most important religious and social event for the Kiowa. The dances were held every few years in early summer and all of the Kiowa bands would come together for the event and sometimes other tribes such as the Plains Apache, also known as the Kiowa-Apache or the Chyenne would also attend. Ceremonies and dances were held to draw on the power of the sun, which was the source of life, and the bison, which was the source of most food, and plans would be made for raiding in the next year. Whether a Sun Dance would be held was determined by the keeper of the Taime, the Sun Dance Medicine, over the winter. If he determined Sun Dance should occur, he would send out messengers to the other villages of Kiowa to tell them when and where the dance would take place. When all of the Kiowa were gathered, the keeper would ride around them with the Taime on his back and everyone knew that it was time to set up the lodge. A lodge is constructed with a tree cut into a pole in the center, and the Kiowa set up their teepees in a circle around it leaving an opening towards the east and the rising sun. Also in the circle would be lodges for the Taime keeper and a sweat lodge. A bison bull would be ceremonially hunted and killed. The hide that will be hoisted up to the top of the center pole and remain there for the dance. The men were to dance day and night for four days without eating or drinking, hoping to induce visions. The Taime was placed on a short poll near the dancing so that it can view all that is happening. On the evening of the fourth day, the Taime keeper would put away the Taime and bring out water for the dancers and tell them that the sun had seen them hungry and thirsty and would give them food and drink so that their people would last. The Sun Dance was complete, and the next day the village would break up and move on.
As bison were a requirement to hold a Sun Dance, as the 19th century progressed, it became harder to find any to hold the dance. In the 1830s the Osage kidnapped the Taime and held it for two years during which the Kiowa could not hold their Sun Dance until they negotiated its return. Later the Taime was stolen by the Utes, and was never returned. The Kiowa continued to try to hold Sun Dances but the last official Sun Dance was completed in 1888, after which the Indian agency in Fort Sill banned the dance for fear that it would halt the progress of civilizing the Kiowa. In 1890, the Kiowa attempted another Sun Dance, and were halted by soldiers from Fort Sill. This was the last official attempt to hold this sacred event.