|
Indian Ghost Dance History
Ghost dance. A ceremonial religious dance connected
with the messiah doctrine, which originated among the Paviotso in Nevada
about 1888, and spread rapidly among other tribes until it numbered among
its adherents nearly all the Indians of the interior basin, from Missouri
river to or beyond the Rockies. The prophet of the religion was a young
Paiute Indian, at that time not yet 35 years of age, known among his own
people as Wovoka ('Cutter'), and 'commonly called by the whites Jack
Wilson, from having worked in the family of a ranchman named Wilson.
Wovoka seems already to have established his reputation as a medicine-man
when, about the close of 1888, he was attacked by a dangerous fever. While
he was ill an eclipse spread excitement among the Indians, with the result
that Wovoka became delirious and imagined that he had been taken into the
spirit world, and there received a direct revelation from the God of the
Indians. Briefly stated, the revelation was to the effect that a new
dispensation was close at hand by which the Indians would be restored to
their inheritance and reunited with their departed friends, and that they
must prepare for the event by practicing the songs and dance ceremonies
which the prophet gave them. Within a very short time the dance spread to
the tribes east of the mountains, where it became known commonly only as
the Spirit or Ghost dance. The dancers, men and women together, held
hands, and moved slowly around in a circle, facing toward the center,
keeping time to songs that were sung without any instrumental
accompaniment. Hypnotic trances were a common feature of the dance. Among
the Sioux in Dakota the excitement, aggravated by local grievances, led to
an outbreak in the winter of 1890-91. The principal events in this
connection were the killing of
Sitting Bull, Dec. 15, 1890, and the
massacre at Wounded Knee, Dec. 29. The doctrine has now faded out, and the
dance exists only as an occasional social function. In the Crow dance of
the Cheyenne and
Arapaho, a later development from the Ghost dance proper,
the drum is used, and many of the ordinary tribal dances have incorporated
Ghost-dance features, including even the hypnotic trances. The belief in the coming of a messiah, or deliverer,
who shall restore his people to a condition of primitive simplicity and
happiness, is probably as universal as the human race, and takes on
special emphasis among peoples that have been long subjected to alien
domination. In some cases the idea seems to have originated from a myth,
but in general it play safely be assumed that it springs from a natural
human longing. Both the Quichua of Peru and the Aztec of Mexico, as well
as more cultured races, had elaborate messiah traditions, of which the
first Spanish invaders were quick to take advantage, representing
themselves as the long-expected restorers of ancient happiness. Within the
United States nearly every great tribal movement originated in the
teaching of some messianic prophet. This is notably true of the Pontiac
conspiracy in 1763-64, and of the combination organized by
Tecumseh and his
brother, the prophet
Tenskwatawa, shortly before the War of 1812. Of similar nature in more
recent times is the doctrine formulated on Columbia river by Smohalla.
See Dance, Mythology,
Religion.
Additional Indian History
Resources:
The books presented are for their
historical value only and are not
the opinions of the Webmasters of
the site.
Handbook of American Indians, 1906
Indian Tribal History
|
|
