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Robe with Calumet Dancers

Eastern Plains or Western Great Lakes

Not on view

Two dancing men with painted bodies are depicted on this rare hide. The dancers shake rattles and brandish grand calumets (large ceremonial pipes) with elaborate feather pendants. In the center, complex geometric motifs—floating curvilinear shapes, ornate crosses, four-pointed stars, and circles—are interspersed with insects and birds. This painting is believed to be the earliest representation of the Calumet Dance, a ceremony performed throughout the Eastern Plains region.

Robe with Calumet Dancers, Native-tanned leather, pigment, Eastern Plains or Western Great Lakes

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