17 Facts About Ghost Dance

Ghost Dance was a ceremony incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems.

Basis for the Ghost Dance is the circle dance, a traditional Native American dance.

The Ghost Dance was first practiced by the Nevada Northern Paiute in 1889.

Ghost Dance was associated with Wovoka's prophecy of an end to colonial expansion while preaching goals of clean living, an honest life, and cross-cultural cooperation by Native Americans.

Practice of the Ghost Dance movement was believed to have contributed to Lakota resistance to assimilation under the Dawes Act.

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The Lakota variation on the Ghost Dance tended towards millenarianism, an innovation that distinguished the Lakota interpretation from Jack Wilson's original teachings.

Ghost Dance spoke of a journey to the land of the dead and of promises made to him by the souls of the recently deceased.

Ghost Dance urged the populace to dance the common circle dance as was customary during a time of celebration.

Ghost Dance continued preaching this message for three years with the help of a local "weather doctor" named Tavibo, father of Wovoka.

Ghost Dance was known throughout Mason Valley as a gifted and blessed young leader.

Ghost Dance stated that Jesus was being reincarnated on Earth in 1892, that the people must work, not steal or lie, and that they must not engage in the old practices of war or the traditional self-mutilation practices connected with mourning the dead.

Ghost Dance said that if his people abided by these rules, they would be united with their friends and family in the other world, and in God's presence, there would be no sickness, disease, or old age.

Ghost Dance preached that if the five-day dance was performed in the proper intervals, the performers would secure their happiness and hasten the reunion of the living and deceased.

The Ghost Dance was investigated by many Mormons from Utah, for whom the concepts of the Indian prophet were familiar and often accepted.

An elaboration of the Ghost Dance concept was the development of ghost shirts, which were special clothing that warriors could wear.

Ghost Dance claimed the Hunkpapa spiritual leader Sitting Bull was the real leader of the movement.

Ghost Dance instantly wheeled and shot Sitting Bull, hitting him in the left side, between the tenth and eleventh ribs; this exchange resulted in deaths on both sides, including that of Sitting Bull.