Brief History Of The Lakota Ghost Dance

The Lakota Ghost Dance was performed by the Lakota Native American tribe. The Lakota Tribe is a subsection of the Dakota Sioux tribe, a nomadic plains tribe located in the midwestern United States. The Ghost Dance was thought to allow members of the tribe to commune with their ancestors and gain protection in battle. This caused a large expansion in its practice following the expansion of settlers into Native American lands and the many battles which followed.

The Lakota tribe came to America about 3,000 years ago.The Lakota Sioux people are plains Indians who originated from Minnesota and moved west to the plains in the early 18th century(269). They have many different names, including: Dakota, Lakota and Nakota. However, the second part

Both men and women participated in this dance. The Ghost Dance was also performed by the Shoshone and the Cheyenne tribes. The purpose of the Lakota Ghost Dance was primarily to commune with the spirits of one’s ancestors and to protect those involved during battle. The Ghost Dance also was viewed as a promise that the buffalo would return. The dancers would perform the Ghost Dance until they collapsed and began hallucinating. Once they recovered, they would tell the medicine man of the tribe about their vision and he would interpret them in an attempt to commune with the dead and tell the future. The dance was also performed for political and religious reasons, as practicing the Lakota religious ceremonies had been outlawed by the government during this time. The Lakota people viewed the dance as a form of rebellion and a returning to the old ways of their

This ceremony began with a fast and a blessing of the ground where the dance would occur by the tribe’s medicine man. The dancers would then enter a sweat lodge. The lodge was constructed with the entrance facing east as a symbolic path towards the fire. Due to the large number of people who participated in this dance, there were often two doors to the sweat lodge, one to enter and one to exit. This was meant to cleanse them both physically and spiritually. Upon exiting the lodge, they would be given a clean set of clothes. The dancers would have their faces painted with sacred symbols, such as circles, stars, and crescents. Due to the preparatory ceremony taking all morning, the dance often did not start until the