Young Marr - April/May 2019

DANCING TO BRING THE RAIN

THE HISTORY AND CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE OF NATIVE AMERICAN RAIN DANCES

While traditions and dances vary between Native American tribes, many of them feature rain dances. Because water is essential to life, and because many tribes lived in agrarian societies, these dances were important rituals, pleas for the survival of the tribe for

essential for survival. Generally, rain dances are performed to ask the spirits or gods to send rain for the crops. Tribes such as the Hopi, Navajo, Pueblo, and Mojave perform rain dances often. An old Cherokee legend says that the rain is filled with the spirits of past chiefs, and the rain is an indication of their battle with evil spirits beyond the natural world. One interesting fact about rain dances is that both men and women — not just men — participate in the ceremony. Dancers wear special regalia, sometimes including headdresses, masks, body paints, and jewelry. What is worn varies from tribe to tribe, but turquoise is very important in rain dances for many tribes and is often incorporated into the jewelry. The rain dance regalia is not worn at any other point or for any other purpose during the year, and participants dance in a zigzag pattern, unlike all other dances, which feature a circular motion. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, when the U.S. government was relocating Native Americans all over the country, they banned the practice of many ceremonial dances on reservations, sometimes including rain dances. However, rain dances continued undercover: Native Americans simply performed the ritual as a different, unbanned ceremony. The dances and the traditions continued, and today many tribes still perform rain dances, even if only in reverence for their heritage.

another season. These dances have existed for hundreds of

years, and many tribes still perform them today.

Rain dances are notably common in the Southwestern U.S., where the dry climate means water is scarce and every bit of rainfall is

THIS MONTH IN PHILLY SPORTS HISTORY

THE MOST DOMINANT SIXERS TEAM EVER

This season, the 76ers have a real chance to make a deep run in the NBA playoffs. Given their recent lackluster history, young Philly fans would be forgiven for thinking this was the first time the team was ever good, but that’s far from the case. Though our team hasn’t been a contender since the days of Allen Iverson and Larry Brown, the Sixers’ history is a rich and successful one. The team won the NBA title three times: in 1955, 1967, and 1983. Of those championship squads, the ‘66–67 team is the consensus choice for the greatest Sixers squad ever. The Sixers entered the ‘66–67 season on a mission. After losing to their nemesis, the Boston Celtics, in the ‘66 Playoffs, the team fired coach Dolph Schayes. After replacing him with Alex Hannum, the team put every ounce of their effort into winning a title. Nothing less would suffice, especially with Wilt Chamberlain in his prime. The regular season served as proof that the Sixers were the real deal. They flew out of the gate, winning 15 of their opening 16 games en route to a then-best-ever 68-win regular season. Topping the Eastern Division proved crucial, as the team secured home-court advantage against the Celtics when they met again in the Division Finals.

This time, though, it was the 76ers who had all the answers. Storming over the Celtics in just five games, the team finally got the monkey off their back. It was the first time in 11 seasons the Celtics didn’t make the playoffs, but that wasn’t enough

for Wilt. He stopped his teammates from popping champagne after dispatching their rivals. The season wouldn’t be worth celebrating, he told them, unless the Sixers won it all.

In the finals, Wilt and Hannum faced their old team, the San Francisco Warriors. It was a harder fought series than most predicted, but the Sixers prevailed in six games. It was a well- deserved title for a legendary team. Hopefully there’s another on the horizon.

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