The History of the Jingle Dress

The Mille Lacs Version (Minnesota)

According to the elders of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, a man received a recurring dream of four women wearing dresses of different colors: red, blue, green, and yellow. Each dress was adorned with metal cones that made a rhythmic clinking sound as they danced. In the physical world, the man's daughter was grievously ill and bedridden. Following the instructions given in his dream, the man and his wife created the dresses and showed the community women the specific dance steps. As the women began to dance, the little girl gained strength from the sound of the cones. By the end of the evening, she was fully cured and dancing alongside them. 

 

The Whitefish Bay Version (Ontario)

In northwestern Ontario, the Anishinaabe community of Naotkamegwanning First Nation (Whitefish Bay) attributes the dress to the childhood of Elder Maggie White. When she was a young girl, she was exceptionally sickly. Her grandfather, a Midewinini (Medicine Man), had a spiritual vision of a dress decorated with shiny cones, along with specific songs and ceremonial dances. He crafted the dress for her and brought her to the dance circle. During the first round, she was too weak to walk and had to be carried. By the second round, she could walk with assistance, and by the final rotation, she was dancing completely on her own, entirely healed. 

 

My Personal Belief of the Jingle Dress

At House of Jingle Dress, it is my personal belief that the jingle dress did not originate from just one isolated event or single geographic point. Instead, it emerged simultaneously across multiple Indigenous communities during a dark era of widespread sickness. When our people were suffering, the Spirits answered across Turtle Island, bringing this powerful medicine to different healers and dreamers at the same time to ensure the survival and healing of our nations. 

 

Rooted in the Three Fires Midewin Lodge: My Lineage

My deep understanding of and reverence for the jingle dress is not academic—it is deeply personal, sacred, and rooted in an unbroken lineage of traditional knowledge. All of my knowledge, and everything I was taught, comes directly from my elders of the Three Fires Midewin Lodge, where my late grandfather, Eddie Benton-Banai, served as Grand Chief. 

 

Growing up in the Lodge under his guidance, I had the profound privilege of learning and witnessing jingle dress healing ceremonies firsthand. Hearing the rain like sound of the ziibaaska’iganan (metal cones) echo within the lodge walls taught me that these dresses are active instruments of prayer. When a dancer moves, the sound of the cones carries our prayers straight to the Creator, clearing away sadness, awakening the spirit, and restoring wellness to those who need it most. 

 

Ceremonial vs. Powwow Dresses: A Crucial Distinction

Because the jingle dress has become a staple of modern competitive powwows, the public often misunderstands its dual nature. There is a vast, profound difference between a ceremonial dress and a powwow dress: 

Sacred Ceremonial Dresses: True jingle dress healing ceremonies are serious, deeply sacred events. They are strictly private and are never meant for the public eye. The sacred ceremonial dresses used in these spaces are made specifically for a distinct healing ceremony and a specific individual's medicine. They are kept private, treated with the utmost respect and are never meant to be seen by the public. 

Powwow Dresses: In contrast, the beautiful jingle dresses seen at modern, public powwows are celebratory regalia. While they still carry the beautiful history and spirit of the dance, they are crafted for public social gatherings, competitions, and community celebrations. 

At House of Jingle Dress, everything created is informed by this profound respect for the boundaries of our medicine. We honor the public celebration of our culture while fiercely protecting the sacred secrecy of the ceremonies taught to me by my grandfather and our Midewin elders.