Ghost Dance was a religious movement among Native Americans of the Western United States in the late 1800’s. It offered Native Americans hope of spiritual renewal and a return to their old way of living. The religion promised that dead ancestors and game animals would come back to life. It was first adopted by indigenous (native) people in what is now Nevada in the late 1860’s. The religion was revived in 1889 and by 1890 was rapidly spreading among the tribes of the Great Plains. Plains tribes who adopted the religion had been forced onto reservations and were suffering from hunger and disease. Whites had wiped out the buffalo herds, leaving many without their chief source of food.
The religion centered on a ceremony called the ghost dance, which differed somewhat from one tribe to another. Among Western Sioux in 1890, believers danced around a pole or tree decorated with sacred objects. The dancers wore special clothing called ghost shirts, which were painted with sacred symbols, including moons, stars, and eagles. The Sioux believed the shirts would protect them from enemy bullets. Some dancers fell into trances and saw visions of the promised world.
The Ghost Dance religion was nonviolent, but U.S. Army leaders feared it would lead to an uprising by Sioux in what is now South Dakota. The dance was largely abandoned by the Sioux after the U.S. Army massacred Sioux followers of the religion in 1890 at Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota. The dance declined among other tribes when its promises were never fulfilled.
