Advice on Minor Events during a Native American Sun Dance

[doc the grey]

Hey everyone, I'm working on a big event for my home game where my party attends a large Sun Dance inspired event that proceeds/runs concurrently with the great buffalo hunts of the season and I'm looking for events for them to participate in that are short but help establish some of the cultural theme and distinction of the group as compared to their settler homes, but I'm having trouble thinking of a lot of small events to really help drive this home. Think micro events like those in the beginning of Feast at Ravenmoor that are short but can be used as a springboard to talk about the culture and history of the people that run them.

I've already been working on the idea of archery contests, horse racing, dances, medicine healing stuff, and maybe some mock duels but I'm wondering if there is anything I'm missing, some cool cultural reference from the traditions of the nomadic plains Indians that I might be missing or some interesting plays on the aforementioned concepts that people might know of that fit the theme of these Sun Dances and traditional Mid Summer hunts that people might know of.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, just remember that I'm looking to build stuff closer to minigames rather than large events and you should be good. Hope to hear from people soon.

[doc the grey]

Bump

[Pizza Lord]

If you are looking at specific real world cultures, then you can probably look those up in numerous places. If you are just making up some 'it sounds reasonable' things to do that may or may not be actual things native american tribes did (or if they are things they did maybe they did them for no cultural or religious significance, just amusement), then you could try:

• Fishing contest, where they try to barehanded toss trout or whatever out of the streams like the neighboring bears. Or maybe just using spears, with the winner getting the most fish, which are of course used for the feasts.
  
• Tests of balance, perhaps two competitors crossing rolling logs laying across a chasm (or just a ditch for non-lethal outcomes.)
  
• Wrestling competitions.
  
• Combination of wrestling and balance, perhaps on a narrow beam, where participants need to make checks to before striking/grappling or when taking damage.
  
• Storytelling and dancing.
  
• Hide and seek or 'Find the lost cub' or some other game where a skilled scout or two hides and must be spotted and tagged.
  
• if the tribes use totem poles or totem markers there can be carving activities or climbing contests where the competitors scale them and maybe leap from one to the other.

Again, this isn't things to do, not necessarily culturally significant stuff, that up to you to link or build into the campaign.