Deer Dancer

Throughout history, the meaning of the deer dance has varied slightly among Pueblo Indian villages. In the past, the significance of the Laguna Pueblo deer dance was twofold: to seek consent from the hunting spirit to kill a deer for much needed food and clothing, and to ask the deer's forgiveness because its life must be sacrificed in order to provide for the tribe. Native Americans never wasted or took for granted anything procured from nature.