Ghost Dance

The Ghost Dance, also known as the Ghost Dance of 1890, was a religious movement among Native Americans that ended with a bloody confrontation with the United States Army at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. This movement began with a revelation that a Paiute Indian known as Wovoka (also known as Jack Wilson) had during a solar eclipse. Central to the Ghost Dance religion was the Ghost Dance itself, which induced religious ecstasy. Believers in the Ghost Dance ritual were convinced that performing the Ghost Dance would eventually reunite them with their ancestors from the spirit world. Meanwhile, the world would return to a primordial state of natural beauty, opening up to swallow up all other people, while the performers of the Ghost Dance floated in safety above with their ancestors and friends. Ultimately, the Ghost Dance inspired hysteria among white settlers and resulted in the wholesale massacre of Native Americans at Wounded Knee. See also: Wounded Knee Massacre \nThe ghost dance is a Native American religious practice that began in the 1880s in the southwestern United States, as many Indian tribes had been forcibly relocated and integrated there. Ghost dancing involved dancing in a circular pattern, and the use of hallucinogenic peyote cactus. The ghost dance was an attempt to bring about renewal of native society and the decline in the influence of the white man. Though originally nonviolent in nature, the movement ultimately attracted militant elements who favored armed conflict as a means to fight the whites. \n

Samples

\n*Download recording Ghost Dance and gambling song from the Piute and Arapaho Native Americans from the Library of Congress' Emile Berliner and the Birth of the Recording Industry Collection; performed by James Mooney (possibly along with Charles Mooney; neither are believed to be Native Americans) on July 5, 1894

External links

\n*Erowid's brief summary of the Ghost Dance

---

\nGhost Dance is John Norman's 1979 historical fiction novel wherein a Sioux man and his tradition comes in conflict with a white woman and her civilization as the Wounded Knee massacre approaches. As with the Norman's main body of work, "The Chronicles of Gor," Norman displays both philosophical reaction and an affinity with incorporating historical events with the actions of fictional characters. Category:Native American history