Ghost Dance

The Ghost Dance of 1890 was an American Indian religious movement that was based on the return of prosperity for Indian peoples in the face of the depressed conditions that existed on American Indian reservations. The movement featured the belief that good living and the peaceful accommodation to whites would bring about the resurrection of their dead relatives and a return of the old way of life. It is referred to as the “Ghost Dance” because of its relation to the spirits of the dead of the participants who were often seen during visions obtained during the dance. The Ghost Dance of 1890 is distinguished from an earlier, smaller, less successful movement known as the Ghost Dance of 1870.

Origins

In late 1888 on the Walker River Reservation in Nevada, a Northern Paiute American Indian named Wovoka (Jack Wilson) fell ill. During his illness he had a religious vision in which he was taken to the Spirit World. There he was given sacred instructions and a message for Indian people. They were to be good to one another and be at peace with the whites, they were to work hard, and they were to perform a dance for 5 straight days. If they followed these instructions, Wovoka prophesied, the world would be renewed, which included the return of the Indian dead.

The late 1800s is a time period that marks the end of the freedom for American Indians, especially those of the Great Plains. By 1890 these groups were either removed to reservations in Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) or were placed on reservations in the general vicinity of their earlier homelands. Their way of life, from the village-dwelling horticulturalists to the nomadic tipi-dwelling buffalo hunters, was forever altered. Every aspect of their cultures, from what they ate, to how they structured their families, to their religious perspectives on the world, soon came under attack by the U.S. government. A variety of policies were enacted with the intention of assimilating native peoples into the broader American culture.

Under this extreme pressure, native peoples turned to the supernatural for guidance and assistance, with few results. Word spread of the Paiute prophet Wovoka and his message of renewal, of the return of the dead, and of the return to earlier ways. Representatives from tribes came to visit Wovoka and listen to his message of hope and renewal. The Ghost Dance teachings and dance quickly spread to many other tribes. Tribes that participated in some form of the Ghost Dance movement included Arapaho, Arikara, Assiniboine, Caddo, Cheyenne, Gros Ventre, Iowa, Kiowa, Lakota, Mandan, Osage, Oto, Pawnee, Plains Apache, Ponca, Quapaw, Santee Dakota, Wichita, and Yanktonai Dakota.

Ghost Dance Forms

Wovoka's original Ghost Dance was derived from the Paiute round dance, a world renewal ceremony. Instructions given to him in his original vision provided the basic beliefs of the dance as well as the form of the dance. The Ghost Dance provided a mechanism for the return of the old ways, a time when the various peoples had control over their own lives and were free, and their way of life worked for them and made sense. The dance was a simple round dance, a circling of dancers in a clockwise direction to music for hours at a time. During the dream-like state induced through repetitive dance, participants would visit their deceased relatives in the land of the dead. In these visions they would see their relatives living the old way of life and where game was bountiful. Dancers wore shirts and dresses that were created specifically for the Ghost Dance, which were decorated with symbols seen in their visions.

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