jingles study (print)

Jingle study, archival print on paper by Leana Asher

This painting is In honor of the jingle dress and the act of prayer and healing it brings to all that hear the jingles.

There was once a little girl who was sick, near death. Her father, desperate to help, had a vision of a dance that would heal his daughter. During a drum ceremony, the little girl wore a dress lined in rows of silver cones made out of the lids of snuff cans. The father encouraged her to dance, and as the night wore on, her health improved.

This is the origin story of the Ojibwe jingle dress. Although there are several versions, they all attribute the girl’s health to the sound of the jingle dress as she danced. https://cla.umn.edu/ais/news-events/story/jingle-dress