Winter Solstice/ Indian Bear Dance Page 1 During the summer of 2004 I started looking into an old story of an Native American Indian ritual that takes place on the winter solstice, December 21st or 22nd depending on the year. According to legend, it was held somewhere near the town of Calico. I researched the accounts dating back to the 1800’s and narrowed the location down to an area just outside Calico. My wife, Jill, and I hiked to the place that fit the descriptions and walked around it a bit. There was a strong feeling of spirit activity in the area.   Over the next couple of months, I continued investigating the Indian Bear Dance. I found that the Bear Dance is a Ghost Dance. This means that while the living Indians are dancing they can actually see the ghosts of their ancestors dancing with them. The Bear Dance was described to me by an American Indian medicine man who was reputed to be an expert on the dance.   The Bear Dance symbolizes putting the Great Bear to sleep for his winter hibernation. First, the Bear appears (as a ghost) and walks the area of the dance to clear it of all bad spirits that may be present. When Bear is done clearing the area, the living Indians start a log fire and begin the Bear Dance with song or chant. As they dance, their ancestors join the dance in spirit form. Slowly the Bear is lulled to sleep for the winter and the dance is complete.   Another dance that usually follows the Bear Dance is the Circle (or Cycle) of Life dance. This dance begins with a log fire symbolizing the light and warmth of the sun. The dance is started with a song or chant that gives praise and thanks to their god, “The Great Creator,” asking for longer sunlight and warmer days to return quickly. (Winter was the time of year that the Indians experienced the greatest number of deaths in their tribes from the freezing cold weather and difficulty obtaining enough food.) The dance ended with the fading of the fire.   About the time that I finished my investigation, an interesting thing occurred. Jill and I went to do some errands that day, driving to Barstow to get some groceries. As we walked through the dairy section, Jill looked down and saw a hawk feather on the floor and commented that this was a really strange place for a feather. We didn’t think anything more of it.   We drove to Victorville for dinner at Hometown Buffet. When we sat down, we noticed a hawk feather on the floor next to our table. “That’s kind of weird,” we said to each other.   After dinner, we drove to Staples to get some supplies for the Photo Shop at Calico Ghost Town. When we arrived back at our car, Jill pointed at the tire on the truck parked next to us. There was a hawk feather stuck to the tread. This was getting too strange. We phoned a good friend, of Ghost University on our way home. He felt, like us, that there was some meaning to the feathers But what?   When we got home, we fed our horses, and guess what was stuck on top of one bales of hay? Yep, a hawk feather. We looked at each other and I said, “Let’s go up to the Bear Dance area”.   When we arrived at the site, Jill told me to look at a weird shape on a distant rock, saying she felt like it was watching us. It didn’t move, so we ignored it. As we walked around, we both felt a strong spirit presence in this area. As dusk fell, I said to Jill, “Let’s go”. When I said this, the weird pointed object that was on the distant rock shot up in the air, spread its wings, circled us once, and then flew out of site over the rocky hills of Calico. It was a hawk.   At our next festival on Thanksgiving weekend, we had an American Indian encampment at the top of town displaying their arts, song and dance. I told the medicine man in the encampment about the hawk incident. He was astounded. He told me that the symbol of the hawk and the feathers means that you are on the correct trail and to continue in that direction. He felt that the investigation of the location of the Bear Dance was probably the right thing to do because of the hawk signs.   On December 21, 2004, I gathered some friends to observe the area where the Bear Dance was to take place. The following account and photos are of the Bear Dance and Cycle of Life Dance that twelve of us observed that night. Please click here to continue.