Shaman of Pelor

The Dejy tribes used to engage in a bizarre ritual honoring Pelor called the Sun Dance, which is rarely practiced anymore due to the unwanted attention it draws from the council of chieftains who have forbidden the practice. The Sun Dance took place during the week of Richfest (the summer solstice), and lasted from four to seven days, from sundown to sundown. Celebrating the renewal of life that the Sun brings, the participants would dance around a toten pole (the "sun-pole"-suggested by some to represent the manhood of Pelor). The participants would offer up their bodies, skewering their flesh with pieces of bone or wood, which were then attached to the top of the sun-pole by long hide ropes. The dancers would then dance about the pole, staring straight into the sun, leaning away from the pole, this would pull their flesh which would sometimes give way. During this time, the participants would often experience visions. When the Sun Dance ended, the exhausted dancers were laid down on beds of sage and would recite their visions to a shaman. These visions could hold new songs, new rituals, or even prophecies of the future. The overall feeling for everyone present was one of renewal and balance and the relationships between people and nature was once again reaffirmed. The self-inflicted torture of the sun dance represented death, the struggle with the Reaper that all must go through. The "breaking away" represented Pelor's victory over darkness through rebirth and renewal brought on by the ever-rising sun.