Question

What symbols were used in Sherman Alexis’s “Ghost Dance”?

Answer 1

Unlike other dances, ghost dance is with fast steps and loud drumming. Participants joined hands and sidestepped leftward around a circle, following the course of the sun, while singing special songs about how Native American life would be restored to its former order and balance in a dance. It would be performed for four or five days and was accompanied by singing and chanting, but no drumming or other musical instruments. In addition, both men and women participated in the dance, unlike others in which men were the main dancers, singers, and musicians. Wovoka claimed that performing the dance would result in the return of the buffalo.

The ritual garments were just as important as the movement itself. The Ghost Dance dresses and shirts, painted with magic symbols, reflected the spiritual aspects of the ceremony.

The symbols include the thunderbird and new moon — which “speak to a hoped-for reversal of desperate conditions and the beginning of a new life” — the sacred pipe, holy cedar tree, morning star and turtle, which represents protection of women and long life