untitled (silver), Wendy Red Star

The jingle dress is a style of dress worn by dancers at a powwow. It is a healing dance started among the Ojibwe community in the early 19th century after canned tobacco was introduced. Since tobacco is considered by Natives to be medicine, hundreds of metal tobacco can lids are rolled into cones and attached to the outside of a dress in various patterns. The dancer’s movement creates a cacophony of sound. Today, dancers from all tribes, not just Ojibwe, dance in jingle dresses.