Native Dancing Ban Lifted in Alaska Village (fwd link)

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Native Dancing Ban Lifted in Alaska Village

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: February 21, 2010
Filed at 12:00 p.m. ET
USA

NOORVIK, Alaska (AP) -- Bobby Wells has lived all his life in this
remote Alaska village, where the Eskimo dancing of his ancestors was
banned by Quaker missionaries a century ago as primitive idolatry.

Now Wells, 53, and other residents of Noorvik have wholeheartedly
embraced the ancient practice outlawed in the Inupiat Eskimo
settlement, which was established in 1914. Wells, the mayor, said
dancing is not just for the ancient religious practice of shamanism as
the missionaries had believed. It's also a form of worship dating back
to the Bible, a view now held by many in the community of 650.

''This is the way God made us, to express our thankfulness to him with
dancing,'' Wells said.

Access full article below:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/02/21/us/AP-US-Reclaiming-Native-Tradition.html?_r=1