Karen Noble, White Deer Dance

Noble’s inspiration for this painting came from her people’s ceremonies and the legacy of revitalizing and recovering traditional and sacred practices. Considered the most sacred ceremonies to Indian people along the Klamath River, the White Deerskin Dance symbolizes renewal, community strength, protection and prosperity. To obtain the skin of a white deer is to secure protection for life. These skins are very scarce and were handed down for several generations and must not be sold or traded. In the intervals between dances, the stories of former days are told and the laws are recited for all to observe. Having survived the devastation of white settlement and massacres, Native people along the Klamath saw the killing of a deer as a monthly occurrence, but to obtain the skin of a white deer is to obtain secure something more sacred. As the days of the ceremonies pass, the sponsors of the dance hand out more and more of their own and their friends' valuables for their dancers to wear. Dancers in the White Deerskin dance wear regalia of deer hide or civet cat kilts, masses of dentalia necklaces, and wolf-fur bands around their forehead while bright woodpecker scalps decorate the head. At this time, there also included various first-fruits ceremonies tied to a ceremonial calendar and specific locations. These elaborate ceremonies are intended to maintain the positive attributes of the natural world in which Native people live and to ensure a continuation of the earth's resources.