The Bear Dance was held when the first thunder in the spring was heard, usually around the middle of March. The Dance lasted for four days.
The origin of the dance was from a Ute legend where two brothers were out hunting. One brother saw a bear. The bear looked like it was dancing. The brother who had not seen the bear kept on hunting, meanwhile the other brother stayed behind and the bear taught him to do the dance and the words to a song that went with the dance. When the brothers were done hunting, they went back to their village. The one brother told the people in the village all about the dance.
The Utes that did the dance would wear plumes. At the end of the last day of the dance, the people would put their plumes on a cedar tree at the entrance to the place where they would dance. Legend has it that if you do this, all of your troubles would go away, and you would begin a new life.
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Bear-Ute
Human-Ute Who?
Bear-Ute (You'd) Better Learn About The Ute
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