Public Domain, Smithsonian American Art Museum
Bull Dance, Mandan O-kee-pa Ceremony
George Catlin • 1832
Rare documentation of the sacred Mandan Okipa ceremony. Dancers wear buffalo heads in the central plaza of the Mandan village. Lewis and Clark had also witnessed Mandan ceremonies during their winter stay. This important record captures a ceremony that was nearly lost after the 1837 epidemic.
Scene Location
Mandan Village, near Washburn, North Dakota
View in 360°
