Ghost Dance
Plains Indian ceremony
Ghost Dance refers to a Native American religious movement that arose in the late 19th century, promising restoration of traditional ways and the return of deceased ancestors through ceremonial dancing.
The movement spread rapidly among Plains tribes facing dispossession and cultural destruction.
The U.S. government's fear of the Ghost Dance led to the massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890, where soldiers killed hundreds of Lakota Sioux.
Original inhabitants of America
- PaiuteGreat Basin indigenous people
- SiouxPlains Indigenous nation
- LakotaWestern Sioux people
- ArapahoNative Plains nation
tribal · ancestors · reservation · Wounded Knee · Big Foot · Great Plains · assimilation · boarding schools
Open resistance to authority
- protestPublic expression of disapproval
- suppressionForcible prevention or concealment
- persecutionSystematic mistreatment of groups
- banOfficial restriction on something
military · cavalry · massacre · oppression · survival · resilience · cultural preservation · forbidden
Ceremonial set of actions
- tranceSemiconscious, unresponsive condition
- regaliaCeremonial emblems of authority
- singingVocal music-making
- prayerAddress to deity
invocation · sacred · hand-holding · communal · gathering · fire · chanting · drumming
Foretelling of future events
- visionAbility to see
- messiahProphesied liberator figure
- resurrectionRevival from death
- restorationReturning something to condition
apocalypse · end times · new world · promised land · deliverance · salvation · second coming · renewal
Semiconscious, unresponsive condition
- vision questRite seeking supernatural guidance
- ancestorsThose from whom one descends
- afterlifeExistence beyond mortality
- communionProfound shared closeness
transcendence · faith · devotion · prayer · supernatural · spirits · dreams · revelation
Native American
Original inhabitants of America
Arapaho · tribal · ancestors · reservation · Wounded Knee · Big Foot · Great Plains · assimilation · boarding schools · treaty
defiance
Open resistance to authority
- protestPublic expression of disapproval
- suppressionForcible prevention or concealment
- persecutionSystematic mistreatment of groups
ban · military · cavalry · massacre · oppression · survival · resilience · cultural preservation · forbidden · underground
ritual
Ceremonial set of actions
- tranceSemiconscious, unresponsive condition
- regaliaCeremonial emblems of authority
- singingVocal music-making
prayer · invocation · sacred · hand-holding · communal · gathering · fire · chanting · drumming · rounds
prophecy
Foretelling of future events
- visionAbility to see
- messiahProphesied liberator figure
- resurrectionRevival from death
restoration · apocalypse · end times · new world · promised land · deliverance · salvation · second coming · renewal · transformation
trance
Semiconscious, unresponsive condition
- vision questRite seeking supernatural guidance
- ancestorsThose from whom one descends
- afterlifeExistence beyond mortality
communion · transcendence · faith · devotion · prayer · supernatural · spirits · dreams · revelation · enlightenment
- Plains IndiansSioux, Lakota, Cheyenne, Comanche, Blackfoot
- Religious RevoltsHussite Wars, Albigensian Crusade, Protestant Reformation
- Sioux HeritageSioux, Lakota, Dakota, Oglala, Teton
- Sioux HistorySioux, Sioux Nation, Lakota, Oglala, Sitting Bull
- Indigenous Resistancenative resistance, indigenous uprisings, colonial resistance, King Philip's War, American Indian Movement
- Indigenous Spiritualityspirit animals, ancestor spirits, vision quest, ancestral spirits, spirit world
Ghost Dancelife
Animate state
powwow · social dance · fertility ritual · harvest celebration · victory dance
Ghost Dancelife
Animate state
birth ceremony · naming ceremony · fertility ritual · healing ceremony · wedding dance
Ghost Dancereality
What actually exists
material fact · empirical observation · waking life · scientific worldview