The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe will hold the White Mesa Bear Dance Sept. 2-5 in southeast Utah.

The cultural celebration takes place in the reservation of community White Mesa, south of Blanding. The four-day event is open to the public, and signs will guide visitors to the Bear Dance Corral.

On Sept. 2 at 10 a.m. dancing begins and continues throughout the festival. It involves people singing and playing of the Growler, an instrument that depicts the sound of a bear. A wooden box with a metal top is banged on to represent thunder.

There are additional events as well.

The White Mesa Bear Dance Chiefs are Jack Cantsee Jr., Tallas Cantsee, Aldean Ketchum, and Eric Wells.

The Bear Dance has been going on for more than 600 years, said Ketchum, and is unique to the Ute Tribes.

Each Ute community has a Bear Dance, which take place at different times in the spring and summer to form a circle in the broader landscape and mark the change of seasons.

It starts with the Northern Utes, then goes to the Southern Utes and on to the Ute Mountain Utes at Towaoc, and White Mesa, Utah, the last one.

“We have the honor of sending the Bear back to his winter sleep,” Ketchum said.

Elementary students from Blanding will participate in the dance Friday, he said.

Special this year is a Ghost Ride on Friday morning by the Diné on horseback to honor victims of the pandemic. The group will ride from the White Mesa hill to the Bear Dance Corral. One riderless horse will represent the dead.

The Bear Dance tradition is that a female bear taught the dance to the people; therefore, females choose a dance partner.

For the dance, males and females in traditional clothing line up across from each other and step back and forth as traditional songs are sung. Women face west, and males face east.

The two lines are kept in place for the first two days, Ketchum says, then the women choose partners, and the dancers break into pairs.

The “Cat Man” for the dance uses a long wooden pole with ribbons on one end to gently nudge the dancers so they stay in line, and to separate dancing pairs so they dance “one on one” outside the main line.

Bear Dances have different meanings in each community.

For example, the June Bear Dance in Towaoc symbolizes rebirth and the beginning of a new year, said Ute Mountain Ute cultural specialist Mark Wing during a demonstration at a past Montezuma County Fair.

“The White Mesa dance has special significance because it takes place near Bears Ears,” Ketchum said.

The nearby mountain has cultural importance for many tribes and was recently designated as a national monument.

Ketchum said White Mesa was traditionally the tribe’s winter home, and the Abajos and Bears Ears areas were their summer home.

In the 1930s, the tribe held Bear Dances in Cottonwood Canyon near the Hatch Trading Post, he said.

During a past demonstration at the Montezuma County Fair, Wing explained the origin story of the Bear Dance.

Two warriors were traveling through the mountains when one rested next to a tree. When he woke, a bear was pawing the tree in a back-and-forth motion, symbolized by the movements of the dancers.

“The bear communicated with our ancestors and gave the dance to a village so it could become prosperous,” Wing said. “It used to be a healing dance not open to the public or photographs, but it has become a social dance that is open to all.”

Ketchum invited the public to the White Mesa Bear Dance, events and feast.

“Bring your family and join us in our cultural celebration,” he said.

He said the protocol for taking photographs is to introduce yourself and ask permission from the Bear Dance chiefs and the person who may be photographed. Those not fully vaccinated are must wear a mask at all times.

jmimiaga@the-journal.com