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The ghost dance is a religious movement that was started by Native Americans in 1890. The circle dance formed the belief systems of the Native Americans and was later given the name the ghost dance (Maclean and Paul 12). This religion spread to western states of the US including California and Oklahoma. This research paper will discus about the ghost dance.
Jack Wilson also known as Wovoka by the Paiute people, was the founder of the ghost dance religion. Jack Wilson was born in the Smith valley around Southeast Carson in Nevada in 1856. Wilson worked in the ranch where he leaned English and Christian religion. He was known as Wovoka by his people but used the name Jack Wilson when dealing with the whites.
He was a young leader who wanted to become a weather doctor just like his father (Maclean and Paul 17). As a young person, he saw several visions but he had difficulties interpreting them. When his father discovered that his son had problems to interpret visions, he took him to be trained by a holy man. The Christian religion influenced Wilson ideas.
The ghost dance religion emerged as a resistance of the efforts by the white Americans to assimilate the Native Americans and abolish their religious beliefs. The movement came forward when Jack Wilson had a vision during a solar eclipse in 1889. In his vision, God showed Wilson a beautiful land that was full of animals.
God sent Wilson back to his people to tell them about the beautiful land. In fact, Wilson urged his people to go to the beautiful land. However, it was a requirement that people must love each other, be honest, and abandon the bad culture of body mutilation and mourning the dead. By doing so, God would unite them with their loved ones in paradise (Maclerran and Paul 23).
As a spiritual leader, God told Jack Wilson that if people agreed to perform the ghost dance they would be cleansed and be united with the loved ones in paradise. After this vision, Jackson proceeded over circle dances and traveled to different places urging people to love each other. Indeed, the ghost dance movement believed in the coming of a new world without suffering and pain. Members of this movement believed that all white Americans would die (Maclerran and Paul 16).
Wovoka the creator of the ghost dance talked of a new world and coming of the Messiah. From a theological point of view, the prophecy made by Wovoka had no tribal basis. The message and the ritual practices were made in a quest to create hope.
The message talked about the abolition of oppression. The message of a new beginning, happiness, rising of the dead and a new life for the righteous people is also found in the book of revelation. It is believed that Wovoka’s Christian upbringing in David Wilson’s home contributed to his teachings (Maclerran and Paul 20).
The Native Americans were not ready to change their lifestyle as per the government instructions. They abandoned everything and spent all their time performing the ghost dance with the belief that the whites would die. The government tried several ways to distract them from the ghost dance but it became impossible and tension started building up (Erdoes and John 27).
Generally, the ghost dance religion talked about the coming of the Messiah who would punish the white people because of their sins. For this reason, the government of the US became impatient with the Native Americans and sent troops to relocate and disarm the Dakota people particularly those who refused to stop the ghost dance (Erdoes and John 18). The troops shot unarmed Dakota people on the plains of the Wounded Knee pine ridge killing 290 people. This incident marked the end of the ghost dance religion.
Works Cited
Erdoes, Richard and John Fire. Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions. New York: Simon Schuster, 1994. Print.
Maclerran, Alice and Paul Morin. The Ghost Dance. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2001. Print.
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