Ghost Dance

The Ghost Dance (Caddo: Nanissáanah, also called the Ghost Dance of 1890) is a new religious movement incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems.

According to the teachings of the Northern Paiute spiritual leader Wovoka (renamed Jack Wilson), proper practice of the dance will reunite the living with spirits of the dead, bring the spirits to fight on their behalf, make the white colonists leave, and bring peace, prosperity, and unity to Native American peoples throughout the region.

The basis for the Ghost Dance is the circle dance, a traditional dance done by many Native Americans

The Ghost Dance is first practiced by the Nevada Northern Paiute in 1889.

The practice sweeps hroughout much of the Western United States, quickly reaching areas of California and Oklahoma.

As the Ghost Dance spreads from its original source, different tribes synthesize selective aspects of the ritual with their own beliefs.

The Ghost Dance is associated with Wovoka's prophecy of an end to white expansion while preaching goals of clean living, an honest life, and cross-cultural cooperation by Indians.

Practice of the Ghost Dance movement is believed to have contributed to Lakota resistance to assimilation under the Dawes Act.

In the Wounded Knee Massacre in December 1890, United States Army forces kill at least one hundred and fifty-three Miniconjou and Hunkpapa from the Lakota people

The Lakota variation on the Ghost Dance tends towards millenarianism, an innovation that distinguishes the Lakota interpretation from Jack Wilson's original teachings.

The Caddo still practice the Ghost Dance today.

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