Editing Ghost Dance (section)

== History ==

=== Paiute influence ===

The [[Northern Paiute people|Northern Paiutes]] living in [[Mason Valley (Nevada)|Mason Valley]], in what became the [[U.S. state]] of [[Nevada]], were known collectively as the Tövusidökadö ({{Literal translation|grass bulb eaters}}) at the time of [[European colonization of the Americas|European contact]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stewart |first=Omer C. |date=1939 |title=The Northern Paiute Bands |url=https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/anthpubs/ucb/text/ucar002-004.pdf |journal=Anthropological Records |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |publication-place=Berkeley, California |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=142}}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=August 2022|reason=This is the only source found for the name of this band of Northern Paiutes, but it's very out of date and may not reflect later Numu orthographies or traditional names.}} The Northern Paiute community at this time was thriving upon a subsistence pattern of fishing, hunting wild game, and foraging for [[pine nut]]s and roots.

The Tövusidökadö tended to follow various spiritual leaders and community organizers. Community events centered on the observance of seasonal ceremonies such as harvests or hunting. In 1869, [[Wodziwob|Hawthorne Wodziwob]], a Paiute man, organized a series of community dances to announce a vision. He spoke of a journey to the land of the dead and of promises made to him by the souls of the recently deceased. They promised to return to their loved ones within a period of three to four years.<ref name="Kehoe, B Alice pp. 32">{{cite book |surname=Kehoe |given= Alice Beck |authorlink=Alice Beck Kehoe |title=The Ghost Dance: Ethnohistory and Revitalization |page=34 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=edMYAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA34 |edition=2nd |place=Long Grove, Il |publisher=Waveland Press |year=2006 |orig-year=1989 |isbn=1-57766-453-1}}</ref>

Wodziwob's peers accepted this vision, likely due to his reputable status as a [[traditional medicine|healer]]. He urged the populace to dance the common circle dance as was customary during a time of celebration. He continued preaching this message for three years with the help of a local "weather doctor" named Tavibo, father of [[Wovoka]].<ref name="Kehoe, B Alice pp. 32"/>

Prior to Wodziwob's religious movement, a devastating [[typhoid fever]] epidemic struck in 1867. This and other diseases more common among the European population killed approximately one-tenth of the total population,<ref>Kehoe, ''The Ghost Dance'', p. 33.</ref> resulting in widespread psychological and emotional trauma. The disruption brought disorder to the [[economic system]] and society.{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}} Many families were prevented from continuing their [[nomad]]ic lifestyle.{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}

=== Round Dance influence ===
A [[Circle dance|round dance]] is a circular community dance held usually around an individual who leads the ceremony. Round dances may be ceremonial or purely social. Usually, the dancers are accompanied by a group of singers who may also play hand [[drum kit|drums]] in unison. The dancers join hands to form a large circle. The dancers move with a side-shuffle step to reflect the long-short pattern of the [[drum beat]], bending their knees to emphasize the pattern.

During his studies of the [[Pacific Northwest]] tribes the [[anthropologist]] [[Leslie Spier]] used the term "[[Prophetic dance|prophet dances]]" to describe ceremonial round dances where the participants seek [[trance]], exhortations and [[prophecy]]. Spier studied peoples of the [[Columbia Plateau|Columbia plateau]] (a region including [[Washington (state)|Washington]], [[Oregon]], [[Idaho]], and parts of western [[Montana]]). By the time of his studies the only dances he was allowed to witness were social dances or ones that had already incorporated [[Christianity|Christian]] elements, making investigation of the round dance's origin complicated.

=== Ghost Dance ceremony ===
Eyewitness accounts of the Ghost Dance prior to the [[Wounded Knee Massacre]] include [[Ella Cara Deloria]] and [[Goodale Sisters]]. The Ghost Dance included hundreds of participants in its peak, with many visiting from nearby reservations to participate, with those participants fasting for one to two days prior to the ceremony. On the day of the dance, men and women enter a separate [[Sweat lodge]]. During a period of two to four days dancers hold hands with their heads looking upwards and slowly sideways shuffle their feet in a clockwise formation while singing Ghost Dance songs. Shamans will wave eagle wing fans in the faces of the participants. The combination of days-long dancing caused exhaustion, with participants falling unconscious into the center, the gaps being closed by other dancers.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}{{clarify |date=March 2025|reason=which tribe(s)?}} The goal was to enter a [[Trance]], where the dancer is transported into the afterworld and meets with lost realities, and times before the arrival of Europeans when the [[Bison]] was found in abundance. Wailing, cries, and perplexed looks were found from the dancers as they woke from their unconscious state and retold their experiences to the shamans.<ref name="Mark">{{Cite web |last=Mark |first=Joshua J. |title=Ghost Dance |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Ghost_Dance/ |access-date=2024-11-26 |website=World History Encyclopedia |language=en}}</ref>

The Ghost Dance is danced with Ghost Dance songs. [[Leonard Crow Dog]] recalls in his memoir during the [[Wounded Knee Occupation]] of 1973 the chants they were singing:

"The whole world is coming, a nation is coming, a nation is coming, the eagle brought the message, says the father, says the father, the whole world is coming, the buffalo are coming, the buffalo are coming, the crow has brought the message, says the father, says the father. The crow nation is coming, says the father, says the father."<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Crow Dog |first1=Leonard |title=Crow Dog Four Generations of Sioux Medicine Men |last2=Erdoes |first2=Richard |publisher=[[Harper Perennial]] |year=1995 |isbn=0-06-092682-1 |pages=125}}</ref>