Ghost Dance Movement in The United States 
    

Painting of the Ghost Dance
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-us-history/period-6/apush-american-west/a/ghost-dance-and-wounded-knee

       The Ghost Dance was a ceremony that was practiced by all Native Americans in the United States during the years of 1870-1890. The ceremony reunited the living with the dead, creating a unity between all Native Americans. There was a considerable amount of work that was put into the ceremony. Over the course of five days hundreds of tents were placed in a large circle, with a pine tree placed in the center. (Lesser 231) The pine tree was covered in in feathers, birds and offerings that they were offering to the dead. All of the members of the tribe came to the ceremony dressed in cotton cloth, they believed that this cloth was able to protect them from the bullets of the Whites. Now the ceremony is able to begin, they chanted, danced and prayed for several hours. This stood out from other Native American dances because there was no drums or other musical instruments, it was only special songs. (Maryland State Archives) The songs included information about how Native American life would be restored and go back to how it had been in the past. After a brief resting period from dancing and singing the Native Americans would continue this cycle. They would dance and chant three times a day for five days. This dance was a fairly controversial topic in the United States at this time. The Native Americans felt threatened by the US government because of all the relocating that was taking place. The Native Americans were not being placed in the nice areas of the United States, they were taken out of the nice areas because the colonist wanted the good land, ect. 

This is a ghost dance shirt
https://www.penn.museum/collections/object/88545

     The conflict between the Native Americans and the United States government only grew from there. The US government believed that they were vertically superior to the Native Americans. Because of the superiority that was felt by the government this ceremony was then banned, no longer being allowed be preformed.Creating conflict that resulted in conflict, also know as Wounded Knee. Because of the severity of Wounded Knee Native Americans put a halt to the religious practice.  

     The Ghost Dance positively influenced the Pawnee because it revitalized traditional Pawnee dances and songs. The Pawnee added the ancient guessing hand game. (Lesser 160) This game was part of a series of games practiced during the Ghost Dance ceremony.

Lesser, Alexander
Analysis of The Ghost Dance Hand Game, 1933
This is an itinerary that was kept by the Pawnee. 

      

        This plays into the politics of death and freedom of religion because the Untied States government took away the Native Americans right to practice there cultural death rituals. This effected their ideological view of their religion. This is something that to this day is very controversial because that is taking away Native Americans fundamental right to the freedom of religion. This ceremony all stared because the government started to relocated Native Americans making them feel threatened. This is also controversial because the government was attempting to take away their culture and assimilate them. These are all things at leaded to the downfall of the Native American culture. 

          For more information check out this video listed above.

                                      Sources 
"The Penn Museum." Penn Museum. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Antrolopogy, n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2017. 

Lesser, Alexander. The Pawnee ghost dance hand game: ghost dance revival and ethnic identity. Lincoln: U of Nebraska Press, 1996. Print.

Mohrbacher, B.C. 1996. The whole world is coming: the 1890 ghost dance movement as utopia. Utopian Studies, 7 (1), 75-85.

"The Tragedy of Wounded Knee (The Ghost Dance)." YouTube. YouTube, 22 Jan. 2011. Web. 09 Apr. 2017.

"The Ghost Dance and Wounded Knee." Khan Academy. Khan Academy, n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2017.

Wenger, T. (2011). Indian dances and the politics of religious freedom, 1870-1930. Journal of the American Academy of Relgion. 79 (4), 850-878.