We have a tremendous amount of cultural capital. Indians have to find their way today for remaining in place despite a lack of support. The phrase itself appears to originate from the Algonquian tribes' phrase pau wau, which meant medicine man or spiritual leader, but which was mistaken by Europeans to mean the events at which those dances took place. So they paid them to do some of their religious dances. Many simply forgot that they were not.
Some people celebrate both traditional and Christian observances.
For them Jesus is one more spirit to be honored, added as a saint but not replacing other gods. We honor the sun and the earth as creators. The sundance is the spirituality of choice for most contemporary urban Indians who are not Christians. This era is a time when it may be as difficult for Native American traditionalists to practice their beliefs as it is for eager outsiders to understand and adopt them. But it is an increasingly interesting time to develop new, integrated beliefs in the context of a different reality.