excepting sometimes by an individual dancer in imitation of a trance
vision. In this respect particularly the Ghost dance differs from every
other Indian dance. Neither are any fires built within the circle,
so far as known, with any tribe excepting the Walapai. The northern
Cheyenne, however, built four fires in a peculiar fashion outside
of the circle, as already described. With most tribes the dance was
performed around a tree or pole planted in the center and variously
decorated. In the southern plains, however, only the Kiowa seem ever to
have followed this method, they sometimes dancing around a cedar tree.
On breaking the circle at the end of the dance the performers shook
their blankets or shawls in the air, with the idea of driving away
all evil influences. On later instructions from the messiah all then
went down to bathe in the stream, the men in one place and the women
in another, before going to their tipis. The idea of washing away evil
things, spiritual as well as earthly, by bathing in running water is
too natural and universal to need comment.
The peculiar ceremonies of prayer and invocation, with the laying on of
hands and the stroking of the face and body, have several times been
described and need only be mentioned here. As trance visions became
frequent the subjects strove to imitate what they had seen in the
spirit world, especially where they had taken part with their departed
friends in some of the old-time games. In this way gaming wheels,
shinny sticks, hummers, and other toys or implements would be made and
carried in future dances, accompanied with appropriate songs, until
the dance sometimes took on the appearance of an exhibition of Indian
curios on a small scale.
THE CROW DANCE
Within the last few years the southern Arapaho and Cheyenne have
developed an auxiliary dance called the “crow dance,” which is
performed in the afternoon as a preliminary to the regular Ghost
dance at night. As it is no part of the original Ghost dance and is
confined to these two tribes, it deserves no extended notice in this
connection. Although claimed by its inventors as a direct inspiration
from the other world, where they saw it performed by “crows,” or
spirits of departed friends, it is really only a modification of the
picturesque Omaha dance of the prairie tribes, with the addition
of religious features borrowed from the new doctrine. The men
participating are stripped to the breechcloth, with their whole
bodies painted as in the Omaha dance, and wear elaborate pendants of
varicolored feathers hanging down behind from the waist. An immense
drum is an important feature. Men and women take part, and the songs
refer to the general subject of the crow and the messiah, but are set
to a variety of dance steps and evolutions performed by the dancers.
As the leaders, who are chiefly young men, are constantly studying
new features, the crow dance has become one of the most attractive
ceremonies among the prairie tribes. Hypnotism and trances form an
essential feature of this as of the Ghost dance proper. (See plate
+CXIX+.)
THE HYPNOTIC PROCESS
The most important feature of the Ghost dance, and the secret of the
trances, is hypnotism. It has been hastily assumed that hypnotic
knowledge and ability belong only to an overripe civilization, such
as that of India and ancient Egypt, or to the most modern period
of scientific investigation. The fact is, however, that practical
knowledge, if not understanding, of such things belongs to people who
live near to nature, and many of the stories told by reliable travelers
of the strange performances of savage shamans can be explained only
on this theory. Numerous references in the works of the early Jesuit
missionaries, of the Puritan writers of New England, and of English
explorers farther to the south, would indicate that hypnotic ability no
less than sleight-of-hand dexterity formed part of the medicine-man’s
equipment from the Saint Lawrence to the Gulf. Enough has been said in
the chapters on Smoholla and the Shakers to show that hypnotism exists
among the tribes of the Columbia, and the author has had frequent
opportunity to observe and study it in the Ghost dance on the plains.
It can not be said that the Indian priests understand the phenomenon,
for they ascribe it to a supernatural cause, but they know how to
produce the effect, as I have witnessed hundreds of times. In treating
of the subject in connection with the Ghost dance the author must be
understood as speaking from the point of view of an observer and not as
a psychologic expert.
Immediately on coming among the Arapaho and Cheyenne in 1890, I heard
numerous stories of wonderful things that occurred in the Ghost
dance—how people died, went to heaven and came back again, and how
they talked with dead friends and brought back messages from the other
world. Quite a number who had thus “died” were mentioned and their
adventures in the spirit land were related with great particularity
of detail, but as most of the testimony came from white men, none
of whom had seen the dance for themselves, I preserved the scientific
attitude of skepticism. So far as could be ascertained, none of the
intelligent people of the agency had thought the subject sufficiently
worthy of serious consideration to learn whether the reports were true
or false. On talking with the Indians I found them unanimous in their
statements as to the visions, until I began to think there might be
something in it.
[Illustration: PL. CXIII
THE GHOST DANCE—LARGER CIRCLE]
The first clue to the explanation came from the statement of his own
experience in the trance, given by Paul Boynton, a particularly bright
Carlisle student, who acted as my interpreter. His brother had died
some time before, and as Paul was anxious to see and talk with him,
which the new doctrine taught was possible, he attended the next Ghost
dance, and putting his hands upon the head of Sitting Bull, according
to the regular formula, asked him to help him see his dead brother.
Paul is of an inquiring disposition, and, besides his natural longing
to meet his brother again, was actuated, as he himself said, by a
desire to try “every Indian trick.” He then told how Sitting Bull had
hypnotized him with the eagle feather and the motion of his hands,
until he fell unconscious and did really see his brother, but awoke
just as he was about to speak to him, probably because one of the
dancers had accidentally brushed against him as he lay on the ground.
He embodied his experience in a song which was afterward sung in the
dance. From his account it seemed almost certain that the secret was
hypnotism. The explanation might have occurred to me sooner but for
the fact that my previous Indian informants, after the manner of some
other witnesses, had told only about their trance visions, forgetting
to state how the visions were brought about.
This was in winter and the ground was covered deeply with snow, which
stopped the dancing for several weeks. In the meantime I improved the
opportunity by visiting the tipis every night to learn the songs and
talk about the new religion. When the snow melted, the dances were
renewed, and as by this time I had gained the confidence of the Indians
I was invited to be present and thereafter on numerous occasions was
able to watch the whole process by which the trances were produced.
From the outside hardly anything can be seen of what goes on within
the circle, but being a part of the circle myself I was able to see
all that occurred inside, and by fixing attention on one subject at a
time I was able to note all the stages of the phenomenon from the time
the subject first attracted the notice of the medicine-man, through
the staggering, the rigidity, the unconsciousness, and back again to
wakefulness. On two occasions my partner in the dance, each time a
woman, came under the influence and I was thus enabled to note the
very first nervous tremor of her hand and mark it as it increased in
violence until she broke away and staggered toward the medicine-man
within the circle.
Young women are usually the first to be affected, then older women,
and lastly men. Sometimes, however, a man proves as sensitive as the
average woman. In particular I have seen one young Arapaho become
rigid in the trance night after night. He was a Carlisle student,
speaking good English and employed as clerk in a store. He afterward
took part in the sun dance, dancing three days and nights without food,
drink, or sleep. He is of a quiet, religious disposition, and if of
white parentage would perhaps have become a minister, but being an
Indian, the same tendency leads him into the Ghost dance and the sun
dance. The fact that he could endure the terrible ordeal of the sun
dance would go to show that his physical organization is not frail,
as is frequently the case with hypnotic or trance subjects. So far as
personal observation goes, the hypnotic subjects are usually as strong
and healthy as the average of their tribe. It seems to be a question
more of temperament than of bodily condition or physique. After having
observed the Ghost dance among the southern tribes at intervals during
a period of about four years, it is apparent that the hypnotic tendency
is growing, although the original religious excitement is dying out.
The trances are now more numerous among the same number of dancers.
Some begin to tremble and stagger almost at the beginning of the dance,
without any effort on the part of the medicine-man, while formerly it
was usually late in the night before the trances began, although the
medicine-men were constantly at work to produce such result. In many
if not in most cases the medicine-men themselves have been in trances
produced in the same fashion, and must thus be considered sensitives as
well as those hypnotized by them.
Not every leader in the Ghost dance is able to bring about the hypnotic
sleep, but anyone may try who feels so inspired. Excepting the seven
chosen ones who start the songs there is no priesthood in the dance,
the authority of such men as Sitting Bull and Black Coyote being due
to the voluntary recognition of their superior ability or interest in
the matter. Any man or woman who has been in a trance, and has thus
derived inspiration from the other world, is at liberty to go within
the circle and endeavor to bring others to the trance. Even when the
result is unsatisfactory there is no interference with the performer,
it being held that he is but the passive instrument of a higher power
and therefore in no way responsible. A marked instance of this is the
case of Cedar Tree, an Arapaho policeman, who took much interest in
the dance, attending nearly every performance in his neighborhood,
consecrating the ground and working within the circle to hypnotize
the dancers. He was in an advanced stage of consumption, nervous and
excitable to an extreme degree, and perhaps it was for this reason that
those who came under his influence in the trance constantly complained
that he led them on the “devil’s road” instead of the “straight road;”
that he made them see monstrous and horrible shapes, but never the
friends whom they wished to see. On this account they all dreaded to
see him at work within the circle, but no one commanded him to desist
as it was held that he was controlled by a stronger power and was to be
pitied rather than blamed for his ill success. A similar idea exists
in Europe in connection with persons reputed to possess the evil eye.
Cedar Tree himself deplored the result of his efforts and expressed the
hope that by earnest prayer he might finally be able to overcome the
evil influence.
[Illustration: PL. CXIV
THE GHOST DANCE—LARGE CIRCLE]
We shall now describe the hypnotic process as used by the operators,
with the various stages of the trance. The hypnotist, usually a man,
stands within the ring, holding in his hand an eagle feather or a
scarf or handkerchief, white, black, or of any other color. Sometimes
he holds the feather in one hand and the scarf in the other. As the
dancers circle around singing the songs in time with the dance step
the excitement increases until the more sensitive ones are visibly
affected. In order to hasten the result certain songs are sung to
quicker time, notably the Arapaho song beginning _Nû′nanû′naatani′na
Hu′hu_. We shall assume that the subject is a woman. The first
indication that she is becoming affected is a slight muscular tremor,
distinctly felt by her two partners who hold her hands on either side.
The medicine-man is on the watch, and as soon as he notices the woman’s
condition he comes over and stands immediately in front of her, looking
intently into her face and whirling the feather or the handkerchief,
or both, rapidly in front of her eyes, moving slowly around with the
dancers at the same time, but constantly facing the woman. All this
time he keeps up a series of sharp exclamations, Hu! Hu! Hu! like the
rapid breathing of an exhausted runner. From time to time he changes
the motion of the feather or handkerchief from a whirling to a rapid
up-and-down movement in front of her eyes. For a while the woman
continues to move around with the circle of dancers, singing the song
with the others, but usually before the circuit is completed she loses
control of herself entirely, and, breaking away from the partners
who have hold of her hands on either side, she staggers into the
ring, while the circle at once closes up again behind her. She is now
standing before the medicine-man, who gives his whole attention to her,
whirling the feather swiftly in front of her eyes, waving his hands
before her face as though fanning her, and drawing his hand slowly from
the level of her eyes away to one side or upward into the air, while
her gaze follows it with a fixed stare. All the time he keeps up the
Hu! Hu! Hu! while the song and the dance go on around them without a
pause. For a few minutes she continues to repeat the words of the song
and keep time with the step, but in a staggering, drunken fashion. Then
the words become unintelligible sounds, and her movements violently
spasmodic, until at last she becomes rigid, with her eyes shut or
fixed and staring, and stands thus uttering low pitiful moans (plate
+CXVII+). If this is in the daytime, the operator tries to stand with
his back to the sun, so that the full sunlight shines in the woman’s
face (plate +CXVI+). The subject may retain this fixed, immovable
posture for an indefinite time, but at last falls heavily to the
ground, unconscious and motionless (plate +CXVIII+). The dance and the
song never stop, but as soon as the woman falls the medicine-man gives
his attention to another subject among the dancers. The first one may
lie unconscious for ten or twenty minutes or sometimes for hours, but
no one goes near to disturb her, as her soul is now communing with the
spirit world. At last consciousness gradually returns. A violent tremor
seizes her body as in the beginning of the fit. A low moan comes from
her lips, and she sits up and looks about her like one awaking from
sleep. Her whole form trembles violently, but at last she rises to her
feet and staggers away from the dancers, who open the circle to let her
pass. All the phenomena of recovery, except rigidity, occur in direct
reverse of those which precede unconsciousness.
Sometimes before falling the hypnotized subject runs wildly around
the circle or out over the prairie, or goes through various crazy
evolutions like those of a lunatic. On one occasion—but only once—I
have seen the medicine-man point his finger almost in the face of the
hypnotized subject, and then withdrawing his finger describe with it
a large circle about the tipis. The subject followed the direction
indicated, sometimes being hidden from view by the crowd, and finally
returned, with his eyes still fixed and staring, to the place where
the medicine-man was standing. There is frequently a good deal of
humbug mixed with these performances, some evidently pretending to
be hypnotized in order to attract notice or to bring about such
a condition from force of imitation, but the greater portion is
unquestionably genuine and beyond the control of the subjects. In many
instances the hypnotized person spins around for minutes at a time like
a dervish, or whirls the arms with apparently impossible speed, or
assumes and retains until the final fall most uncomfortable positions
which it would be impossible to keep for any length of time under
normal conditions. Frequently a number of persons are within the ring
at once, in all the various stages of hypnotism. The proportion of
women thus affected is about three times that of men.
THE AREA COVERED BY THE DANCE
It is impossible to give more than an approximate statement as to
the area of the Ghost dance and the messiah doctrine and the number
of Indians involved. According to the latest official report, there
are about 146,000 Indians west of Missouri river, exclusive of the
five civilized nations in Indian Territory. Probably all these tribes
heard of the new doctrine, but only a part took any active interest
in it. Generally speaking, it was never taken up by the great tribe
of the Navaho, by any of the Pueblos except the Taos, or by any of
the numerous tribes of the Columbia region. The thirty or thirty-five
tribes more or less concerned with the dance have an aggregate
population of about 60,000 souls. A number of these were practically
unanimous in their acceptance of the new doctrine, notably the Paiute,
Shoshoni, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Caddo, and Pawnee, while of others, as
the Comanche, only a small minority ever engaged in it. Only about
one-half of the 26,000 Sioux took an active part in it. It may safely
be said, however, that the doctrine and ceremony of the Ghost dance
found more adherents among our tribes than any similar Indian religious
movement within the historic period, with the single possible exception
of the crusade inaugurated by Tenskwatawa, the Shawano prophet, in
1805. (See plate +LXXXV+.)
[Illustration: PL. CXV
THE GHOST DANCE—PRAYING]
PRESENT CONDITION OF THE DANCE
Among most of these tribes the movement is already extinct, having
died a natural death, excepting in the case of the Sioux. The Shoshoni
and some others lost faith in it after the failure of the first
predictions. The Sioux probably discontinued the dance before the final
surrender, as the battle of Wounded Knee and the subsequent events
convinced even the most fanatic believers that their expectations of
invulnerability and supernatural assistance were deceptive. The Paiute
were yet dancing a year ago, and as their dream has received no such
rude awakening as among the Sioux, they are probably still patiently
awaiting the great deliverance, in spite of repeated postponements,
although the frenzied earnestness of the early period has long ago
abated. The Kiowa, who discarded the doctrine on the adverse report of
Ä′piatañ, have recently taken up the dance again and are now dancing
as religiously as ever under the leadership of the old men, although
the progressive element in the tribe is strongly opposed to it. Among
the other tribes in Oklahoma—especially the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Caddo,
Wichita, Pawnee, and Oto—the Ghost dance has become a part of the
tribal life and is still performed at frequent intervals, although
the feverish expectation of a few years ago has now settled down into
something closely approaching the Christian hope of a reunion with
departed friends in a happier world at some time in the unknown future.
As for the great messiah himself, when last heard from Wovoka was on
exhibition as an attraction at the Midwinter fair in San Francisco. By
this time he has doubtless retired into his original obscurity.
+Chapter XVI+
PARALLELS IN OTHER SYSTEMS
I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your
daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your
young men shall see visions.—_Joel._
How is it then, brethren? When ye come together every one of you
hath a doctrine, hath a revelation.—_I Corinthians._
THE BIBLICAL PERIOD
The remote in time or distance is always strange. The familiar present
is always natural and a matter of course. Beyond the narrow range of
our horizon imagination creates a new world, but as we advance in
any direction, or as we go back over forgotten paths, we find ever
a continuity and a succession. The human race is one in thought and
action. The systems of our highest modern civilizations have their
counterparts among all the nations, and their chain of parallels
stretches backward link by link until we find their origin and
interpretation in the customs and rites of our own barbarian ancestors,
or of our still existing aboriginal tribes. There is nothing new under
the sun.
The Indian messiah religion is the inspiration of a dream. Its ritual
is the dance, the ecstasy, and the trance. Its priests are hypnotics
and cataleptics. All these have formed a part of every great religious
development of which we have knowledge from the beginning of history.
In the ancestors of the Hebrews, as described in the Old Testament, we
have a pastoral people, living in tents, acquainted with metal working,
but without letters, agriculture, or permanent habitations. They had
reached about the plane of our own Navaho, but were below that of the
Pueblo. Their mythologic and religious system was closely parallel.
Their chiefs were priests who assumed to govern by inspiration from
God, communicated through frequent dreams and waking visions. Each of
the patriarchs is the familiar confidant of God and his angels, going
up to heaven in dreams and receiving direct instructions in waking
visits, and regulating his family and his tribe, and ordering their
religious ritual, in accord with these instructions. Jacob, alone in
the desert, sleeps and dreams, and sees a ladder reaching to heaven,
with angels going up and down upon it, and God himself, who tells him
of the future greatness of the Jewish nation. So Wovoka, asleep on
the mountain, goes up to the Indian heaven and is told by the Indian
god of the coming restoration of his race. Abraham is “tempted” by
God and commanded to sacrifice his son, and proceeds to carry out the
supernatural injunction. So Black Coyote dreams and is commanded to
sacrifice himself for the sake of his children.
[Illustration: PL. CXVI
THE GHOST DANCE—INSPIRATION]
Coming down to a later period we find the Chaldean Job declaring
that God speaketh “in a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep
sleep falleth upon men; then he openeth the ears of men and sealeth
their instruction.” The whole of the prophecies are given as direct
communications from the other world, with the greatest particularity
of detail, as, for instance, in the beginning of the book of Ezekiel,
where he says that “it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the
fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the
captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened and I saw
visions of God.”
In the New Testament, representing the results of six centuries of
development beyond the time of the prophets and in intimate contact
with more advanced civilizations, we still have the dream as the
controlling influence in religion. In the very beginning of the new
dispensation we are told that, while Joseph slept, the angel of the
Lord appeared to him in a dream, and as a result “Joseph being raised
from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him.” The most
important events in the history of the infant redeemer are regulated,
not in accordance with the ordinary manner of probabilities, but by
dreams.