Some say the modern day Pow Wow competition dance known as the Ladies Fancy Shawl Dance has its roots in a ceremonial dance called the Butterfly Dance. Here is a Cherokee account of how that dance came to be.

I’ve been told the Shoshone have a similar story but I heard this version from Cherokee dancers in North Carolina. These dancers told me the Ladies Fancy Shawl Dance is a representation of the following Butterfly Legend:

Many, many years ago when the Earth was still quite new, there was a beautiful butterfly who lost her mate in battle. To show her grief, she took off her beautiful wings and wrapped herself in a drab cocoon. In her sadness, she could not eat and she could not sleep and her relatives kept coming to her lodge to see if she was okay.

Of course she wasn’t, but she didn’t want to be a burden on her people so she packed up her wings and her medicine bundle and took off on a long journey. She wandered about for many days and months, until finally she had gone all around the world. (To this day, butterflies go on long journeys, but that is another story.)

On her journey she kept her eyes downcast and stepped on each stone she came to as she crossed fields and creeks and streams. Finally, one day as she was looking down, she happened to notice the stone beneath her feet, and it was so beautiful that it healed her sorrow.

She then cast aside her cocoon, shook the dust from her wings, and donned them once more. She was so happy she began to dance to give thanks for another chance to begin her life anew. Then she went home and told The People about her long journey and how it had healed her.

To this day,The People dance this dance as an expression of renewal, and to give thanks for new seasons, new life, and new beginnings.

The shawl in the Fancy Shawl Dance represents the butterfly’s wings, the fancy steps and twirls represent the butterfly’s style of flight. This is another reason you will sometimes hear the Fancy Shawl Dance Competition referred to as " the butterfly dance."

At Crow Fair in Montana, I was told another story about the Fancy Shawl Dance. While the Crow people also equate this dance form as an expression of re-emergence and renewal of life forces, they have a very different explanation of how it began. Their version goes like this:

When the men returned from World War II, many of them were impressed with the dance troupes they had seen perform in Europe, and the colorful clothing the European dancers wore.

A transformation began in the Men’s Traditional Dances as these men began to incorporate bright colors into their traditional outfits, and add aerobic movements into their interpretation of traditional dances. This evolved into a very strenuous dance competition category called the Fancy Dance.

The young ladies of the time thought this looked like a lot of fun and they wanted to try it, too. Not to be out done by the men, some of these bold young women began to strap two bustles to their backs and compete in the Men’s Fancy Dance category at pow wows.

Well, as you can imagine,this did not go over very well with the men, who were outraged at women who were forward enough to push their way into a MAN’s category of competition. (Remember, this was the 1940’s.) What was even worse, many times the women were beating the men in competition!

This was considered pretty disgraceful from the men’s point of view, yet they also had to keep their women happy. Eventually, a council of Elders got together to ponder what they could do about this pitiful situation.

After much thought and consideration,it was decided to give the ladies their own category of Fancy Dance, but something more regal and graceful, which was more suited to the expected behavior of women.

The Elders decided that the Butterfly Dance would be suitable for adaptation to this new dance style for women. Thus, the Fancy Shawl Dance category was begun in modern competitions.

By the way, the Crow Fair All Indian Rodeo and Pow Wow is coming up the third weekend in August at Crow Agency, Montana. If you only go to one pow wow in your lifetime, this is the one I would recommend. It’s the largest outdoor powwow in America, and there are over 1,000 tipis in the encampment, which has earned it the title of “Tipi Capital of the World.”

Read more about:
Dance Regalia of the Fancy Shawl Dancer
How the Fancy Shawl Dance Competition is Judged
Crow Fair

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