The
Ghost Dance
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Ghost Dance Facts for kids: What was the Ghost Dance?
The Ghost Dance was a religious and symbolic ritual performed during
the late 1800's by members of the tribes of the Great Plains. Two
Medicine Men (Shamans), had experienced prophetic visions and
that by performing the Ghost Dance the spirits of the deceased would
re-unite with the living and bring peace and prosperity to Native
Indians.
Ghost Dance Purpose and Symbolism
Many
Native Americans believed that "When we dance, every
time our foot hits the ground, it is a prayer". The
'Round Dances' were representative of the circle of
life.
Ghost Dance Picture
The picture of the Ghost Dancers depicts many eagle and
crow feathers - feathers symbolized honor & connected
the user with the Creator. Eagle feathers were the
symbol of great strength and courage. The bald eagle was
considered sacred bird. The crow symbolized wisdom and
was a symbol of the past, when the crow had acted as a
pathfinder.
Ghost dancers flourished crow and eagle feathers and
wore them in their clothes and hair. The Ghost Dance
Religion used the morning star as a symbol of the
renewal of traditions and the resurrection of the heroes
of the past.
Ghost Dance Facts for kids
Interesting facts about the Ghost Dance are detailed below. The history of
Ghost Dance is told in a factual sequence consisting of
a series of short facts providing a simple method of relating the
history and events of the Ghost Dance.
Ghost Dance
Facts for kids
Ghost Dance
Fact 1: The first movement was initiated by
Gray Hair, or Wodziwob, of the Paiute tribe. The
movement began in 1870 in the Walker Lake Reservation in
Nevada.
Ghost Dance
Fact 2: Wodziwob experienced and apocalyptic
vision in which a great disaster caused by fire or flood
would eliminate the white man, that deceased Indians
would return alive to the earth to support the tribes
and the buffalo would be restored.
Ghost Dance
Fact 3: The first Ghost Dancers performed a
version of their traditional 'circle dance' with new
rituals that called for the living to re-unite with the
spirits of the dead and bring peace and prosperity to
Native Americans
Ghost Dance
Fact 4: Gray Hair, or Wodziwob was followed
by a Shaman called Tavibo who spread the prophecy and
new doctrine among other Native American tribes of the
Great Plains.
Ghost Dance
Fact 5: The first movement initiated by
Wodziwob and spread by Tavibo subsided when the prophecy
failed to come true.
Ghost Dance
Fact 6: The second movement began in 1888 and
was initiated by Wovoka who was Tavibo's son. Wovoka had
been trained as a medicine man, or Shaman, by his
father.
Ghost Dance
Fact 7: Wovoka (1856 - 1932), also known as
Jack Wilson, became highly influential amongst the
tribes as a powerful Shaman who had strong magical and
mystic powers.
Ghost Dance
Fact 8: During the solar eclipse on January
1, 1889 Wovoka had a prophetic vision in which he saw
the resurrection of the dead and the return of the
whites from North America to their original homeland.
Ghost Dance
Fact 9: Wovoka taught that in order to
realize the vision, the Native Indians must live
righteously and perform a traditional circle dance
in a series of 5 day gatherings. The philosophy of the
Ghost Dance and Wovoka was of peace and he asked his
followers to "do no harm to anyone, do right always...do
not tell lies...you must not fight".
Ghost Dance
Fact 10: The arrival of the railroads and the
policies and laws of the US Government had brought a
massive influx of settlers into former Indian lands. The
once numerous herds of buffalo were being wiped out as a
sporting activity of white men. Tribes had been forcibly
relocated to reservations, thousands of miles from their
homelands. Treaties and promises had been broken.
Continued...
Ghost Dance
Facts for kids
Ghost Dance Movement
for kids
The info about the Ghost Dance
movement provides interesting facts and
important information about this important event that occured during the presidency of the 23rd President of the United States of America.
Ghost Dance Facts for kids
Interesting facts about the Ghost Dance are continued below.
Ghost Dance
Facts for kids
Ghost Dance
Fact 11: The prophecy of Wovoka quickly spread
words of hope among many Native American tribes, notably
the Lakota Sioux and other tribes of the Great Plains,
and the number of Ghost Dancers increased in number.
Ghost Dance
Fact 12: The Lakota Sioux leaders, Grant Short
Bull and Kicking Bear, believed that although Wokova had
preached against fighting that militant action would
hasten the removal of the white settlers.
Ghost Dance
Fact 13: By 1890 the U.S. authorities became
fearful of the movement’s rapid spread and tried to
outlaw the rituals of the dancers who had started to
wear specific clothing with strange, mystical
symbols. The Lakota Sioux asserted that the ghost shirts
were bulletproof.
Ghost Dance
Fact 14: Memories of the 1876
Battle of Little Bighorn
surfaced and the crushing defeat of the 7th Cavalry led
by General George Custer at the hands of Chief Sitting
Bull and his combined force of Sioux, Cheyenne & Arapaho
Native American Indian tribes.
Ghost Dance
Fact 15: In December 1890 U.S. Army officers
tried to arrest Chief Sitting Bull who supported the
movement and was suspected of encouraging an uprising.
Lt. Henry Bullhead attempted to arrest Chief Sitting
Bull, the Sioux were enraged and a gun battle began.
Chief Sitting Bull was killed in the gun battle at the
Standing Rock Reservation and became a symbol of Native
American resistance movements
Ghost Dance
Fact 16: The arrest of another Lakota Sioux
leader, Chief Spotted Elk, aka Big Foot, was
ordered. Chief Spotted Elk led his followers to the Pine
Ridge Reservation hoping to find safety.
Ghost Dance
Fact 17: On December 28, 1890 Chief Spotted Elk and his followers camped near Wounded Knee
Creek and were soon surrounded on all sides by soldiers.
Chief Spotted Elk had not intention of fighting. The soldiers
started collecting their weapons.
Ghost Dance
Fact 18: According to some accounts, a Shaman
named Yellow Bird began to perform the Ghost Dance. A
gun accidentally went off which led to the Massacre at
Wounded Knee in which nearly 400 men, women and children
of the Sioux nation were killed.
Ghost Dance
Fact 19: The Massacre at Wounded Knee
effectively ended the movement. Two weeks after the
Wounded Knee Massacre all other Ghost Dancers
surrendered to the US Army.
Ghost Dance Fact 20:
The surrender brought an end to the
Movement and the hope of the Native Indians to return to
their traditional way of life.
Ghost Dance
Facts for kids
Ghost Dance Movement for kids - President Benjamin Harrison Video
The article on the Ghost Dance provides detailed facts and a summary of one of the important events during his presidential term in office. The following
Benjamin Harrison video will
give you additional important facts and dates about the political events experienced by the 23rd American President whose presidency spanned from March 4, 1889 to March 4, 1893.
Ghost Dance
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Interesting Facts about Ghost Dance for kids and schools
●
Summary of the Ghost Dance movement in US history
●
The Ghost Dance, a major
event in US history
●
Benjamin Harrison Presidency from March 4, 1889 to March 4, 1893
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Fast, fun, interesting
facts about the Ghost Dance
movement
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Foreign & Domestic
policies of President Benjamin Harrison
● Benjamin Harrison Presidency and Ghost Dance
movement for schools,
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