Dancing with the Ghosts The Ghost Dance is a familiar topic in the history of Native American culture as well as in the history of the United States. It brings forth images of people chanting, moving in a slow circle, perhaps dressed in clothing with fringe and feathers. It conjures remembrances of the Sioux Indians and the Wounded Knee Massacre, with pictures of Native Americans dying and being buried in mass graves by victorious looking soldiers. It appears to be only a small blip in history, just another instance of the mistreatment of the native people who inhabited this land first but fell victim to America’s Manifest Destiny, seemingly insignificant, a shadow, almost a ghost in the history books. However, the Plains Ghost Dance was more …show more content…
The Ghost Dance began to spread across the Plains, but certain tribes were more likely than others to participate in this ceremony. Thornton has examined the spread of the Ghost Dance, and he concludes that size of a tribe is an important factor in whether or not the dance was adopted (93). He asserts that this is because smaller tribes felt more threatened by the incoming Europeans and the population declines that resulted from disease and life on reservations; the promise of the return of lost relatives would increase the size of the tribes and help the Native Americans continue their lives and traditions (Thornton 92-93). This claim reflects the idea that the Ghost Dance provided hope during a grim time. It was an opportunity for native people to reclaim their lives and civilization. While the Ghost Dance mainly affected these smaller tribes, some larger tribes participated as well (Thornton 94-05). The participation of tribes of different sizes shows that the dance had far greater implications than simply increasing the size of a population. It was a path to reunite with loved ones who had been lost, as well as to recover a traditional lifestyle when the buffalo returned and diseases were