Ghost Dance And The Prophecies Of The Indians

A religious leader claimed he received a vision that told him to perform this dance and that it would bring the destruction and rebirth of the world. It also promised that all dead ancestors would rise up to rejoin the living. White Americans feared these dances and the United States government viewed it as an ongoing resistance movement so they had it terminated. The dance came to a catastrophic end on December 29, 1890, at the Battle of Wounded Knee, South Dakota. American troops killed many Lakota people, including women and children who had gathered to celebrate the dance. The United States government also intervened in 1904 when the sacred Sun Dance was officially banned because it was considered corrupt and dangerous. Despite these setbacks, it is important to note that there are still about 700 recognized tribes in the United States today. To discuss further on the rites of passage for Native Americans, we see that the Kinaalda and the Vision Quest are very important to their culture. The Kinaalda is a puberty rite for young Native American girls. “Girls are believed to take on the identity and spiritual qualities of the Changing Woman during the ritual. The Changing Woman was the first girl to ever experience Kinaalda and she is seen as the model ritual for all girls. Because a girl takes on the identity of

Native American art forms have been dwindling in the past few years. Even though they have been decreasing, some tribes gather still to continue traditions. Art forms such as dance, pottery, and weaving have been passed down from generation to generation. There are many different types of dances including war dances, grass dances, and rain dances. Each dance has its own meaning and represents something unique. Native American dance is a creative way to tell a story, share values, pass down traditions, and communicate traditions of their ancestors in the 21st century.

Of course, as soon as rumors that the Black Hills contained gold began to circulate, this promise became as empty as any others made by the 'Great White Father' to native peoples. And on May 17th 1876, the breaking of this treaty precipitated the crushing defeat of the 7th Calvary at the hands of the Sioux nation led by the defiant, "You need not bring any guides; you can find me easily. I will not run away" , Sitting Bull (Cooke 136) in the Battle of Little Bighorn (Cooke 133-151). But this battle, though a victory over the Anglo invaders, was temporary and short-lived. By September 5, 1877 Crazy Horse was dead, Sitting Bull was in exile in Canada and "…in all the Great Plains, from Canada south, there was no longer a free tribe or a "wild" Indian. It had not taken long; in 1840 the boundary of the permanent Indian Country had been completed and the Great Plains were to belong forever to Indians. A mere thirty-seven years later every solemn promise had been broken and no bit of ground large enough to be buried in remained to any Indian that could not--and probably would--be arbitrarily taken from him without warning" (Andrist 300). The Westward expansion was on, and the push to break up and the sell the Great Sioux Reservation was supported by a "westward-pushing railroad [and] promoters eager for cheap land to be sold at high profits to immigrants"

Most of the women and children in Big Foot's tribe were family members of the warriors who had died in the Plains wars. The Indians had agreed to live on small reservations after the US government took away their land. At the Wounded Knee camp, there were 120 men and 230 women and children. At the camp, they were guarded by the US Seventh Cavalry lead by Major Samuel Whitside. During the year 1890 a new dance called the Ghost Dance started among the Sioux and other tribes. The Sioux's Christ figure, Wovoka, was said to have flown over Sitting Bull and Short Bull and taught them the dance and the songs. The Ghost Dance legend was that the next spring, when the grass was high, the Earth would be covered with a new layer of soil, covering all white men. Wild buffalo and horses would return and there would be swift running water, sweet grass, and new trees. All Indians who danced the Ghost dance would be floating in the air when the new soil was being laid down and would be saved. The Ghost Dance was made illegal after the Wounded Knee massacre though. On December 28, 1890 the Seventh Cavalry saw Big Foot moving his tribe and Big

Throughout the world, there have been several different dances created and people do not fully know the origins of the dances. For example, the twist was created by Chubby Checker in the 60s. There have been several different ways to show the rhythmic ability as a whole and the most different thing that people were doing was several different ways of dancing. In the late 1700s and the early 1800s, African Americans were starting to do different dances as a whole. However, they were not fully called as a dance or as they were referred to as contra dances, reels, and jigs when the cadence was called out. The difference was when there was a change in general if there was no cadence, then the African Americans would be dancing. African Americans

In John Smith’s The General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles, his portrayal of the Native Americans is that of a tradition-driven people, who were willing to trade and occasionally aid the colonists, but were ultimately considered barbarians. The traditional aspect of the native’s culture can be found in their descriptions of fighting and dancing, with one of Smith’s first hostile encounters describing the Native Powhatan warriors being painted in different colors while “singing

The reservation was also the place where the Battle of Wounded Knee occurred (“History of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation”). As the Ghost Dance movement grew in strength and popularity, so did the uneasiness of the United States government. Sitting Bull was captured and killed. The U.S. 7th Cavalry attacked Black Elk’s Sioux encampment, killing 200 men, women, and children. Black Elk also experienced the poverty and starvation forced upon them by the policies of the U.S. government (“Black Elk”). The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 guaranteed land to the Great Sioux Nation. This was cut down to create the present day Pine Ridge Reservation (Martinez).

Sitting Bull was trying to gather all of the Lakota under a common banner. Crazy Horse moved his camp to his, and between their reputations, they had gathered the largest Lakota force in history.

One of the most significant religious rituals performed among the Lakota's was the Sundance. They were performed every June and everyone would come together to form one large village. The men would dance and stare into the sun until they saw visions. Sitting Bull's first Sundance was somewhere around his twentieth birthday.

The differences in each of the Native American Trickster Tales. Trickster Tales may be humorous because of all the chaos the Trickster causes, but the Trickster helps cultures in many ways. These tales entertain as well as teach valuable life lessons to the reader or listener. Trickster Tales are very diverse, and the Trickster character changes, depending on the region the tale comes from. One of the only things all Trickster Tales have in common is that the Trickster is always male, but can alter his sex at will. He may cause chaos, but also can create order and meaning. A study of selected Native American Trickster Tales will show their characteristics of diversity,

Most of the men of the tribe sent out one day trying to make peace with another tribe. Dances with Wolves was assigned to watch the chief’s family. While the men were gone, the tribe was attacked me other Indian’s. Dances with wolves provided rifles to the Indians who were there and they defeated the other Indians.

Crazy Horse was brutally murdered and the Sioux surrendered (“Battle”). In 1890 the government learned that the Native Americans were doing the Ghost Dance (Cayton 265). The Ghost Dance was a ritual in which people join hands and twirled in a circle (Cayton 265). When the government saw the Ghost Dance, they thought the Native Americans were crazy and trying to rebel, so they tried to arrest Sitting Bull (Cayton 265). In this conflict that came to be known as the Battle of Wounded Knee, soldiers killed Sitting Bull, 120 men, and 230 women and children (Cayton 265). These battles pushed Native Americans onto reservations and took away their basic human rights.

Throughout history, and all over the world, mythology has been developed as a way of explaining the unknown and coping with one’s existence. Why does the sun shine? Well, seemingly, to generations past, something is controlling the universe, so there must be a god in charge of the sun and many other natural phenomenon. During the creation of Native American myths, “there was much in the way of free-range food, but hunting wasn't as easy as getting up in the morning, taking a stroll and shooting a few passing bison with your bow” (Godchecker). Times were tough, “even Plains societies who lived off the prolific buffalo fell under the threat of starvation at times” (Godchecker). Finally, “when herds were found, the people were grateful and

On the morning of December 29, 1890, many Sioux Indians (estimated at above two hundred) died at the hands of the United States Army near Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Reservation. The Indians were followers of the Ghost Dance religion, devised by Wovoka, a Paiute prophet, as a spiritual outlet for Indian repression by whites. The United States Army set out to intercept this group of Native Americans because they performed the controversial Ghost Dance. Both whites’ and the Sioux’s misunderstanding of an originally peaceful Indian religion culminated in the Battle of Wounded Knee. This essay first shows how the Ghost Dance came about, its later adaptation by the Sioux, and

fly kites and shoot marbles and told them long stories of ghosts, witches and Indians." (Page 403) In view of