Ghost Dance

The Ghost Dance originated among the Great Basin Paiute as a religious movement arising out of the extreme social, political, economic, demographic, cultural, and personal stress brought about by the rapid incursion of Europeans and, later, Americans into North America. Anthropologists refer to such movements as revitalization, nativistic, new religious, and/or transformative social movements. As such, they renew past cultural beliefs and practices with revitalizations of selected aspects of these beliefs, while actively adapting them to various non-Native (usually Christian) beliefs and practices. These movements are also not simply religious but also political and social in their scope.

The 1870 Ghost Dance movement was led by the Paiute prophet Wodziwob, who predicted that the performance of a prescribed dance would bring about the disappearance of all Whites, the return of all deceased Natives, and a restoration of a halcyon pre-contact life. This religious movement primarily spread west to California and Oregon. The Ghost Dance of 1890 was a more widespread spiritual movement that originated under the inspired leadership of the Numu (Northern Paiute) Indian Wovoka (Jack Wilson). The dance was taken up by a large number of Native American groups from the West Coast to the Great Plains. (Other Native American religious leaders who lead movements of this type include Handsome Lake,Neolin, Smohalla, and John Slocum.) While the movement begun by Wovoka is best known in English as the Ghost Dance, the Northern Paiute referred to it as the nanigukwa (Circle Dance). Forms of both Ghost Dances continued in California and the western United States and Canada until the 1960s in some regions. There was a brief revival of the dance among groups of Lakota in the 1970s.

The leader of the more influential 1890 movement, Wovoka (“woodcutter” in English) was born between 1856 and 1863. Reputed to have spiritual powers, his father, Numu-tibo'o (Buckskin), born around 1835, and himself took part in the 1870 Ghost Dance movement. Wovoka's mother Tiya was known as a very hard worker whose work ethic became central to Wovoka's religious message. At 14, Wovoka went to the staunch Presbyterian home of the Wilson family, from whom he derived his own English name and elements of his religious teachings. Wovoka married an Indian named Tumma, whose English name was Mary. They had six sons, all of whom died young, and four daughters, one of whom was not fathered by Wovoka. Mary Wilson died in 1932, the same year as Wovoka.

Wovoka previously experienced some minor visions, and it was on New Year's Day of 1889 that he received his Great Vision, reportedly brought on by a severe fever or the shock of a great sound. Wovoka went into a deep trance, “died” along with the sun during an eclipse that day, and returned to life, as did [Page 1077]the sun. While dead, he went to heaven, where he conversed with God and saw many dead people who lived rejuvenated and happy lives. During this trance, he was taught the round dance and instructed to conduct it for 3 to 5 consecutive days at a time. He received five songs that gave him power over the weather. Wovoka also claimed he was invulnerable to bullets and reportedly made ice appear on a hot July 4th. Wovoka validated his spiritual power through trances, his control of the weather, and other extraordinary feats. He stressed that his religion was meant for all people and that it was a religion of peace and harmonious coexistence.

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