|
|
The Prophet Dance of the Northwest and Its Derivatives: The Source of the Ghost Dance
Contents:
Show Summary
Hide Summary
Historical SummaryPractically all the Indians of the northwest coast and neighboring interior were much preoccupied with stories of visits to the dead by shamans who went to secure souls whose loss had caused the sickness of their patients. Quoting Teit, Spier says:
"Occasionally prophets made their appearance among the tribe. They generally bore some message from the spirit world, which they claimed they had visited, and from which they said they had just returned. Some of these were people who had been sick and had been in a state of trance. When a person who had been in a trance revived, and related that he had been in the land of ghosts, dances similar to those before described were held by his friends and neighbors. These dances continued for several days. This was done particularly when the person claimed to have seen the chief of the land of the ghosts, and to have been sent back to this world with a message. Then he would travel throughout the country, escorted by Indians, and would be listened to with great respect. Wherever he went, religious dances were performed. If the message brought by such a person was considered a welcome one, the dancers offered prayers of thanks to the chief [of the dead]. If the message was one foreboding evil, they made supplications for mercy." These prophets, or others with similar visions, predicted the coming of the whites with their novel possessions and the extinction of the Indians. One such was a Lower Thompson chief, Pêlak, who about 1855 or earlier
predicted the advent of white settlers. They in fact began to invade this region in numbers about 1858.
The prophets’ relations with the dead are clear enough, but nothing is said in this connection of the return of the dead. Teit wrote elsewhere, however,"the souls will continue to stay in the country of the dead until the’Old Man’ and’Coyote’ shall return to this world. They will be preceded by messengers. They will come from the east [although’the country of the souls is underneath us, toward sunset’], and bring the souls back on clouds of tobacco smoke; according to others, on red clouds or on the aurora." Several Thompson tales of Old Man and Coyote bear on their Doomsday promise. In two of these Old-one announces that he will return in this fashion at the end of the world; the accompanying dead are mentioned in a third. A significant parallel to the Southern Okanagon portents occurs here: the end will be prefaced by a series of unnatural events through a span of seven years, increasing in terror from the sudden appearance of buds on bare trees to earthquakes which at the end will level the mountains.1
1Spier, L.n/an/an/an/an/a, , 59–60 (George Banta Publishing Company. By permission).
Contents:
Chicago: "The Prophet Dance of the Northwest and Its Derivatives: The Source of the Ghost Dance," The Prophet Dance of the Northwest and Its Derivatives: The Source of the Ghost Dance in Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, ed. Thomas, William I. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1937), Original Sources, accessed May 10, 2025, http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=8M43VE1KHDSY1W1.
MLA: . "The Prophet Dance of the Northwest and Its Derivatives: The Source of the Ghost Dance." The Prophet Dance of the Northwest and Its Derivatives: The Source of the Ghost Dance, in Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, edited by Thomas, William I., New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1937, Original Sources. 10 May. 2025. http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=8M43VE1KHDSY1W1.
Harvard: , 'The Prophet Dance of the Northwest and Its Derivatives: The Source of the Ghost Dance' in The Prophet Dance of the Northwest and Its Derivatives: The Source of the Ghost Dance. cited in 1937, Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, ed. , McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York. Original Sources, retrieved 10 May 2025, from http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=8M43VE1KHDSY1W1.
|