“A vision came to me when the sun went into the shadows and I lay dying. And in my death, I saw the Heavens of the white robes. And yes, it is as they describe it. But also there, my children, are all the Indians that ever roamed this earth–all your beloved ancestors and mine and those young ones who were taken by the white man’s diseases. Do not grieve for them. They want you to know that they are happy. Yes. And you should not grieve for yourselves, because here is what the white robes did not tell you–the white man, my children, will soon be no more. Now you must not hate the white man. This will only delay his end. But if you will do the dance that I will teach you, all the ancestors will return. And the buffalo will be renewed. And you shall all live forever. Forever in the freedom that we as Indian people once knew.”
~Wovoka, aka Jack Wilson
Wovoka, a Northern Paiute Indian religious leader, was the originator of the Native American ghost dance movement. Historians tells us that during the solar eclipse of New Year’s Day 1889, Wovoka received a vision that foretold of the eradication of the white settlers and a restoration of the American Indian. In order to bring the vision to pass, Native Americans were instructed to live with strict righteousness and dignity and also to dance the Wovoka in a period of five day gatherings.
Wovoka’s teachings spread rapidly among the native American peoples–most notably the Lakota–who still perform the dance in remembrance of the massacre at Wounded Knee.
A Lakota buffalo skull, Wounded Knee, SD.
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