Bear - Revered in hunting practices, powerful ally in healing
Bear Ceremony Delaware, Northeast - Ten-day winter ceremony; the Linkan Men’s Dance, a fast moving dance about a group of boys that danced themselves into the sky and became stars, is done on the 5th night; the Pickwelaneokan or Nighthawk Dance, a dance of thanksgiving and petition for health, is performed on the 10th night
Bear Dance - Performed by members of medicine societies for curing purposes; also as a petition for long life; dancers often wear bearskins and masks; most bear dances imitate the shuffling or waddling gait of bears
Bear Dreamer Society Lakota, Plains - Medicine society responsible for carrying this seriously wounded, if cured by these medicine people, one becomes a member of the Bear Dreamer Society; the healing is done in a tipi with a sage covered floor,; the medicine people you singing, drumming, and dancing
Bear Medicine Woman Pawnee, Plains - Imbued with the spirit of the bears, Bear Medicine Woman performs healing ceremonies using songs and bear growls; she inhales power from the sun; she breaths different color breaths on wounds for four days; she originated the bear dance, which is part of the Bear Medicine Ceremony
Bear Parent Kuteni, Plateau - A myth about a female bear who raises a lost boy with her cubs; she gives the boy the power to hear his people singing and praying in his village; she also teaches the boy to separate sincere prayers from insincere prayers; the boy returns to his people and tells them that bears know how to tell the difference between sincere and insincere people
Bear Sweat Lodge Ojibwa, N. east, Subarctic - Ceremony performed by bear visionaries or those who have dreamed of the bear; an intense ordeal that bestows great honor on the visionaries, the heat is much more intense and the time spent in the lodge much longer (Gill & Sullivan, 1992)
Bear Woman Pueblo, Southwest - Yellow woman who becomes a bear; corn women or maiden heroine of many stories who may appear as a kachina mana and sometimes takes on the identity of a bear