Ghost dance11/5/2022 ![]() ![]() Made of animal hide adorned with fringe and feathers, the paintings decorating a Ghost Dance dress or shirt ranged from the very simple to the complex with elaborate designs that represented their mythology, such as the sun, moon, stars, as well as trance-like visions. In reaction to the years of intense battle, loss of land, broken treaties, and cultural restrictions, those Lakota who practiced the Ghost Dance began to make sacred shirts that were believed to be bullet-proof. It seemed they had few alternatives left other than to use force against their oppressors - from reservation police, government agents, and the military, to white settlers - in defense of their culture and the few traditions they had left. ![]() ![]() Although violence and rebellion against white Americans was never a part of the Ghost Dance, many Lakota (a once proud warrior society) were willing to die to protect it.īy the late 1800s, countless Lakota traditions had already been banned by the government. It was believed the dance would incite a great apocalypse and ultimately lead to a peaceful end of the white American expansion, the preservation of the Native American culture, and the return of the buffalo.Īs the dance spread throughout the Plains Indian tribes of the West, each began to fuse elements of the ritual with their own beliefs. He prophesied that this dance would bring peace and happiness to the devastated Indian tribes - disease had ravaged the Indian population and their numbers were decimated many of their land treaties with the white settlers had been broken and the Native American people were forcefully relocated to reservations…they had been stripped of their land, their culture, and their freedom.ĭuring this time of profound misery, Wovoka began to practice and teach the Indian tribes this spirit dance to give them hope and help them overcome their pain and suffering. The Ghost Dance movement was born from a vision of the Paiute prophet, Wovoka. …but, this ominous spirit dance actually began as a nonviolent religious movement called "fight no one and hate no one". A mysterious and often misunderstood Native American ritual, the Ghost Dance once inspired fear among white Americans during the late 19th century. ![]()
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