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Native american culture and spirituality
Native american culture and spirituality
Native american culture and spirituality
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The Ghost Dance
In January 1889, Wavoka, a Paiute Indian, had a revelation during a total eclipse of the sun. It was the genesis of a religious movement that would become known as the Ghost Dance. It was this dance that the Indians believed would reunite them with friends and relatives in the ghost world. The legend states that after prayer and ceremony, the earth would shatter and let forth a great flood that would drown all the whites and enemy Indians, leaving the earth untouched and as it was before the settlers came to America. The religion prophesied the peaceful end of the westward expansion of whites and a return of the land to the Native Americans.
The first dance was held by Wovoka in 1889. The ritual lasted five successive days, being danced each night and on the last night continuing until morning. Hypnotic trances and shaking accompanied this ceremony, which was supposed to be repeated every six weeks. The ceremony also had rhythmic drumming and introduced many new musical instruments into Indian religious ceremonies. In addition, both men and women participated in the dance, unlike other Indian religions in which men were the primary dancers, singers, and musicians.
Word spread quickly and the Utes, Bannocks, and Shoshone tribes accepted the Ghost Dance. Eventually, the plains tribes also accepted the Ghost Dance movement. The peaceful message of hope was uplifting to many Indians. It gave them a sense of hope that the progress of the white man would be stopped by the will of Nature.
While adopting the movement, many tribes added specific customs and rituals that reflected the tribe’s individuality. The Sioux, for instance, added two specific elements including the use of hypnosis to bring about trances as well as aid in communication with the dead, and Ghost Clothing. There are two specific types most commonly used, the ghost shirt and the ghost dress. Both were believed to protect the wearer from bullets.
Sitting Bull, a famous Sioux warrior, adopted the ghost dance into his way of life. He was a respected leader, medicine man, and warrior. His following of the movement alarmed both the military and Indian Agencies. In 1890, just a few months after attending his first ghost dance, Sitting Bull was killed while resisting arrest. His followers fled and joined Kicking Bull, one of the first to Practice with Wovoka.
Donning their ghost shirts and with their beliefs firm in their hearts, the followers of the ghost dance were rounded up at Wounded Knee creek and killed while resisting arrest.
Sitting Bull was a war chief in the Lakota tribe during the 1800s. He was born in 1831 at the Grand River in South Dakota. When he was a child, he was not called Sitting Bull. His name was Jumping Badger but everybody had called him ‘Slow’ at first because they believed that he lacked many skills. It wasn't until he was 14 when he fought in his first battle that they renamed him and started calling him Sitting Bull, like his father.
Scientists have recently discovered links to the Kiowa and Aztec religions. For example both tribes worshiped a stone image, Taimay, and both tribes followed a pictographic calendar. The language that the Kiowa spoke can be traced back to the Uto-Aztecan language like Latin and English. The Kiowa languages also have connections to the Bannocks, Comanche’s, Paragons, Paiutes, Pima, Shoshones, and Utes. The Kiowa and Aztec preformed many dances of praise including the Sun Dance. However, the Kiowa also had many unique dances including the Scalp, Corning, Feather, and Ghost praising nature and life. Each dance was preformed to celebrate different achievements. For example, the scalp dance was preformed when men returned ...
When he was a small child, and starting to grow up he was a great person. His mom’s name was Mixed Day or commonly known as Her-Holy-Door. When he was 14, his dad gave him a Coupstick, which is a long wand used for striking at the enemy (Bernotas 20-21). In 1850, Sitting Bull achieves the rank of warrior/hunter in his tribe. Seven years later, he adopts a Assiniboine names Stay-Back as his brother. In 1863, he joins the fight with Dakota Sioux to fight off Henry H. Sibley. Then one year later joins to fight at Killdeer Mountain in South Dakota. During the Sun Dance in the late 1860s, Sitting Bull was ranked to a chief (Schleichert 104).
Native Americans were not afforded full citizenship in the United States until 1924, therefore they were not afforded the rights of American citizens i.e. religious freedom until then. It wasn’t until 1945, that the Supreme Court held that “Freedom of speech and of press is accorded aliens residing in this country” (Bridges v. Wixon, 326 U.S. 135, 148). In 1890 the Ghost Dance movement gain momentum within the Lakota. This created concern and fear among many whites in the area. A massacre at Wounded Knee on the Lakota Reservation in South Dakota was a direct result of the Euro- American fears of non-Christian people. Tisa Wegner tells us, “in 1906, Congress supported a view, amending the Dawes Act to postpone citizenship for newly allotted Indians for twenty-five-year period or until they had “adopted the habits of civilized life” (Hoxie 1995:211-238). The Native people then developed secular dance ceremonies which allowed them to continue the practice of dancing and not be perceived as a threat, they did this by having these ceremonies coincide with Euro-American
There were other taboo's in the Indian culture other then not naming the dead, such as you were never to kill snakes. It was thought that if one were to snake, it would make the snakes mad and more snakes will come and kill a friend or relative. Snakes, spiders, and scorpions were all seen as bad creatures and they were supposed to avoid them. The only time when you are allowed or only safe time to kill one of these was if they bit you or caused you harm. The Indians also believed that if a fox comes near your home and makes noise, that would be the indication that one of your relatives was going to die. The Owl and coyote were messengers to tell you that the person that was supposed to die is already dead. The Indians believed in magic or healers and witches. The way a person comes to gain super natural powers were through dreams and after that the person becomes empowered with special abilities. They believed that certain springs were cursed and you were not supposed to drink from them. The causes of bad springs would be from a witch that would put a special stone in the water and if you drank from it, you would start hearing voices and seeing things. If the person lingered too long around the spring, you would eventually not be able to think any more and would lose your mind essentially. If a person had a bad dream, it could give you bad powers that would make people sick. The Indians were very scared of witches because of the bad things they could do to you. They would not have to touch you to curse you. The good healers when first having their power would go off and dance by himself and start healing people. Witches were not able to harm good people such as healers. If you were cursed by a witch, it would require a healer tha...
...Sitting Bull to be arrested so he could not join the dancers. On December 15, 1890 the police dragged Sitting Bull out of his house and ended up shooting him in the head when he resisted. His son Crow Foot was also killed.
The Sioux Grass Dance is considered to be the most popular style of Native American Music. As one dances to this music, they follow a pattern known as “toe-heel.” This consists of the individual placing the left foot in front of the right and repeating with the other foot. Each male dancer makes many personal variations of this dance resulting in a so...
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 Foot immediately put up a white flag. Major Samuel Whitside captured the Indians and took them to an army camp near the Pine Ridge reservation at Wounded Knee. Whitside took Bigfoot on his wagon because it was more comfortable and warmer, and Big Foot was sick. Whitside had orders to take the Indians to a military prison in Omaha the next day, but it never happened. That night Colonel James W. Forsyth took over. The Cavalry provided the Indians with tents that night because it was cold and there was a blizzard coming. The next day, December 29, 1890, the Cavalry gave the Indians hardtack for breakfast. There was a seize of arms and the soldiers took all the Indian's guns away. A medicine man named Yellow Bird told the Indians to resist the soldiers and not give up the guns, he did a few steps of the Ghost Dance.
Sitting Bull was the greatest Sioux Chief and one of the greatest Native American Chiefs ever. Sitting Bull did so much for the freedom of his people. Although he did not succeed he sent a message to all people to never give up and be faithful to your people. Sitting Bull is a great role model for all people because of the things he did.
The men of the tribe then join in the preparations for the dance by construct sweat lodges, which are used in the ceremony. They also collect other necessities, which are needed for the dance. The first day before the Sun Dance is a very significant day. In the early morning hours a group of men “known for their eminence in their tribe were chosen to look for a (cottonwood) tree with a fork in the top” (“Dance”). Along with this select group went a chosen woman.
The religion of the Ghost Dance started with a man named Wovoka. On January 1, 1889, he had a ‘vision’ during a solar eclipse in Nevada (Peterson 27). It brought a message of hope to the oppressed Indians of only the Indians living. The Indians called Wovoka the ‘Messiah’ (“The Ghost Dance” par. 1) and it was believed that he would bring a “day of deliverance” (Phillips 16) to the Indians. The messiah was said to return to the earth so that all the white men would vanish and the buffalo and their ancestors would return (Peterson 27). Wovoka’s vision was that:
... its fair share of problems, hospitals started receiving patients claiming to have “Charleston knee”. In the mid-1920’s people were dancing the Charleston in the Pickwick Club so vigorously that they caused it to collapse killing over 40 people. After this incident Boston’s mayor banned the Charleston from being danced in all public dance halls because he believed it was too dangerous. Following Boston’s Charleston ban, several other cities in New England followed suit. But the more that people tried to stop the Charleston the more its popularity grew. Over time many dance halls realized they were fighting a losing battle and gave up trying to stop their patrons from dancing the Charleston. Instead they attempted to get them to dance it more calmly, as to not hurt themselves or others. The Charleston went on to become one of the greatest American dances of all time.
Many scary movies shown the past few years have been based on paranormal activity such as Paranormal Activity 4. These movies have been based on religions, ghosts the devil taking over the inside of a person’s body. A ghost is known as a manifestation of the spirit or the soul of a person after they have passed. The words spirit or demon are alternatives for the word “ghosts” that people use. However the term typically refers to a deceased person's spirit. The belief in ghosts is closely tied to the concept of animism which is an ancient belief which connects with souls to everything ...
Like many Indian arts, Indian dance also has its root in religion. Without the religious and cultural background of India, the growth and beauty of Indian dance is not possible. In ‘Natya Shastra’, there is a small story about the origin of Indian dance. According to Hindu mythology, dance first existed in heaven. There was always a constant conflict between the Asuras and the Devas for wealth and power. The Devas were tired of the Asuras’ greediness and jealousy.
Dance is an ancient human practice, however the earliest record of human dance remains a mystery. By