GHOST DANCE. In 187o there started among the Paiute (Paviotso) of Western Nevada a new faith—the Ghost Dance religion—which in most cases spread rapidly because of the wide feeling, founded on solid fact. that the westward movement of white culture was destined to destroy the native culture. In some cases "the new cult was encouraged by the chiefs as a check to the rival powers of the Shamans" (Spier, see biblio graphy). The Modoc war of 1873 saw the immediate disappear ance of the cult, but it may still survive, or more probably there may survive separate cult-elements which, if re-stimulated and recombined, would present a very close resemblance to the com plex of ideas, beliefs and rites which constitute the Ghost Dance religion.
In 1890 changes in the administration with the appointment of inexperienced men in charge of the reserves, led to discontent, notably among the Sioux of Pine Ridge. Pledges had been broken. Messianic ideas of a deliverer who shall restore the world to the godly and punish the transgressors of his ordinances are found in Indian thought, and there is a continuity of idea, inspired by, and probably based on, political conditions, between the ideals of Pontiac; the Paiute dreamer of 187o named Ta'vibo; Smo halla, the dreamer of the Columbia region whose oratory, activities and personality made him a man of wide influence; the Shaker teachers of Puget Sound; and the doctrines of Wovoka the Messiah, the Paiute who is known as Jack Wilson. The new teaching—in reality the old teaching—reached the Sioux in 1889 and took the form of a prophecy of a new world. Even progres sive and intelligent Indians held the belief in the close advent of a liberator who should restore the Indian race, living and dead, to a regenerated earth where the pristine conditions of life should prevail. Administration of Indian reserves had been adequate, intelligent, sympathetic and satisfactory in many cases. The prophecy sometimes allowed the white man to share the predicted felicity. The movement took hostile expression among the dis contented Sioux, whose leaders, Sitting Bull and Red Cloud, were irreconcilable enemies of the whites. Sitting Bull, a medicine man rather than a secular chief, was killed on Dec. 15, 189o. By Jan. 16, 1891, the outbreak ended, as a result of the military and political operations conducted by Gen. Miles, who put the agencies in charge of military officers known to and respected by the Indians.
The Ghost Dance begins in the middle of the afternoon or later. No musical instrument is used except by individual dancers. The Sioux wore a "ghost shirt," almost always made of white cloth, tailored in Indian fashion. No metal was allowed to be worn. The ghost stick carried by the leader was a staff about 6 ft. long, with red cloth and red feathers. Other articles used were arrows with bone heads, a bow, a gaming wheel and sticks. The ground was consecrated. The priests were ordained by the conferment of a consecrated feather, either of a crow, the sacred bird of the Ghost Dance, or of the eagle, sacred in Indian lore, given to the candidates by the apostle. The feathers were painted. The dancers were ceremonially painted on the face with elaborate designs, in red, yellow, green and blue, suggested in trances, and were thus strengthened in spiritual vision and physical health. All went to bathe—to wash away all evil, spiritual and material. Attendance was compulsory, as those who stayed away would be turned to stone or punished. Songs, adapted to the simple dance step, were carefully rehearsed. Participants fell into trances and on regaining consciousness narrated their visions. The general psychology of the dance as an element in religious and social life, and as it functions in the lives of primitive people, forms a topic of importance as, in general, sexual display takes place and selection is encouraged—a feature sternly and successfully re pressed in the Ghost Dance, in which the whole attention of the performers, the whole community, was successfully concentrated upon the purpose of the dance and upon the message of salvation which it conveyed.