Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A ceremonial of a number of North American tribes, of recent origin, and developed from the Messianic doctrines of Indian prophets who prophesied the return of the dead and the extinction of the whites.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- A religious dance of the North American Indians, participated in by both sexes, and looked upon as a rite of invocation the purpose of which is, through trance and vision, to bring the dancer into communion with the unseen world and the spirits of departed friends. The dance is the chief rite of the Ghost-dance,
or Messiah, religion, which originated about 1890 in the doctrines of the Piute Wovoka, the Indian Messiah, who taught that the time was drawing near when the whole Indian race, the dead with the living, should be reunited to live a life of millennial happiness upon a regenerated earth. The religion inculcates peace, righteousness, and work, and holds that in good time, without warlike intervention, the oppressive white rule will be removed by the higher powers. The religion spread through a majority of the western tribes of the United States, only in the case of the Sioux, owing to local causes, leading to an outbreak.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a religious dance of Native Americans looking for communication with the dead
Etymologies
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Examples
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Because Big Foot had been affiliated with the new religious formation known as the Ghost Dance, and fearing arrest and reprisals, Big Foot set out for Pine Ridge after an invitation from Chief Red Cloud to join him there and assist him in finding a path to peace.
Tim Giago: December 29, 'A Day That Will Live in Infamy' for the Lakota Tim Giago 2011
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Because Big Foot had been affiliated with the new religious formation known as the Ghost Dance, and fearing arrest and reprisals, Big Foot set out for Pine Ridge after an invitation from Chief Red Cloud to join him there and assist him in finding a path to peace.
Tim Giago: December 29, 'A Day That Will Live in Infamy' for the Lakota Tim Giago 2011
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The Ghost Dance was a sacred dance that was brought to the Sioux by the Paiute Medicine Man Wovoka.
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Audience members learned about the history and significance of the Ghost Dance and felt the pain in "Ghost Dance" by Cree poet Louise Bernice Halfe-a poem that addresses the massacre at Wounded Knee where 300 died.
Kootenay Rockies - News loadxml 2010
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Audience members learned about the history and significance of the Ghost Dance and felt the pain in "Ghost Dance" by Cree poet Louise Bernice Halfe-a poem that addresses the massacre at Wounded Knee where 300 died.
Kootenay Rockies - News loadxml 2010
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His growing political power was instrumental in preventing the Ghost Dance cult from spreading to Comanches and Kiowas—the same cult that led to the infamous massacre of Miniconjou Sioux at Wounded Knee in South Dakota in 1890—for which he received notice in the national press.
EMPIRE OF THE SUMMER MOON S. C. Gwynne 2010
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When the Ghost Dance began to sweep the reservation Sitting Bull did not condemn it, and although he never joined in the dance himself, he allowed it to take place on his land.
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Alexie's Ghost Dance isn't very good so leaving it out improves the book.
Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror: Night Shade Books December 2008 - Jeremy Lassen Blue Tyson 2009
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Werent they the tribe that invented the famous and ultimately tragic Ghost Dance?
Dancing with Werewolves Carole Nelson Douglas 2009
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Many Lakota believe that it was the white man's fear of the Ghost Dance that eventually led to the death of Sitting Bull.
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