Texto Complementario Kiowa Ghost Dance Kracht

The Kiowa Ghost Dance, 1894-1916: An Unheralded Revitalization Movement
Author(s): Benjamin R. Kracht

Source: Ethnohistory, Vol. 39, No. 4 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 452-477
Published by: Duke University Press
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The Kiowa Ghost Dance, 1894-1916:
An Unheralded Revitalization Movement
Benjamin R. Kracht, Northeastern State University
Abstract. The Kiowa Ghost Dance movement of I894-I916 is relatively unknown.

Kiowa involvement in the 1894 Ghost Dance movement involved different motives
than the theories of deprivation and acculturation used to describe participation
in the Ghost Dance of 1889-91. An ethnohistorical analysis of the ritual sym-
bols in the Kiowa Ghost Dance illustrates how the Kiowa-and others-perceived
themselves as participants in the movement.
Mentioning the Plains Ghost Dance to students and scholars often evokes
thoughts of the revitalization movement that swept the Northern Plains in
1889-90, culminating in the tragic massacre on 29 December 1890, of well
over one hundred Miniconjou Sioux proselytes at Wounded Knee, South
Dakota. One can be misled into believing that the Plains Ghost Dance
ended with this sad chapter of American history, for many books written
about American Indians (see Brown 1973:390-4I8; Andrist I97I:338-
5z; Underhill 1965:z57-61; 1971:176), as well as introductory anthro-
pology textbooks (Oswalt 1986:332-33; Bates and Plog 1990:417-18;
Haviland I990:379; Peoples and Bailey 1991:421; Harris 1980:423-24),
only describe the Sioux ceremony, complete with militancy and bulletproof
ghost shirts. Even the title of James Mooney's (1896) renowned Ghost
Dance monograph-The Ghost Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak
of I890-emphasizes the Sioux ceremony. It is not surprising, then, that
the Sioux Ghost Dance has received the most attention.
This coincides with the myth that the 1890 Plains Ghost Dance
was a "short-lived aberration" (Kehoe 1989:131) that lost popularity
after Wounded Knee, then was replaced by the peyote religion (Bar-
ber 1941:668, 671; LaBarre I938:43n.; 1971:6; Underhill 1965:268;
Ethnohistory 39:4 (Fall 1992). Copyright ? by the American Society for Ethno-
history. ccc ooI4-80oi/9z/$i.5o.
The Kiowa Ghost Dance, I894-19I6 453
I97I: I76; Thomas 1965:78; Slotkin 1975 [1956]: zo; Stewart 1972: 28).
Indeed, peyotism rapidly diffused throughout the trans-Mississippi West
after 1890, but the peyote ritual, introduced to the Kiowa, Comanche,
and Plains Apache (KCA Indians) as early as I870, had attracted many
converts in the Indian Territory during the I88os, well before the Ghost
Dance arrived (LaBarre 1938: IIo; Stewart 1987: 57-61; I972). Moreover,
the Ghost Dance did not vanish in 1891. Variations of the ceremony-
as performed by the Pawnee (Lesser 1978 [I933]), the Wind River Sho-
shoni (Hultkrantz 1981: 264-8I; I989: o02), the Canadian Dakota (Kehoe
1989: 129-34), the Kiowa (Kracht I989: 803-20), and others-continued
well into the twentieth century (Lesser 1933: I09).
Given the scant information concerning the Indian groups perpetu-
ating the ceremony, most scholars have interpreted the Ghost Dance in
terms of the 1889-91 movement. In general, the literature suggests that
the Ghost Dance was a response to the stress of culture contact and the
subsequent pressures of disruption and inevitable acculturation brought
about by the reservation period (see Carroll 1975; Landsman I979; Thorn-
ton 1987; Aberle I959; Spier et al. I959). The shuffle-stepped round dance,
the pitifully chanted Ghost Dance songs, and the vision-producing trances
were said to reflect the low status and deprivation of the constituents who
sought cultural transformation to a better state (Jacobs 1987 [1972]: 134-
35; Slotkin I975 [I956]: I7; Ryan 1969:186; Aberle 1982 [1966]:318-20;
I959; Jorgensen 1972:6-7; Nash 1955:442; Wallace I956).
Alice Kehoe (I989:103-II, 121-27) recently reviewed the Ghost
Dance literature to demonstrate that theories of deprivation, acculturation,
and revitalization predominate explanations for the appearance of nativ-
istic movements like the Ghost Dance, the Prophet Dance, and the peyote
religion. Likewise, in an earlier article, Weston LaBarre (1971) examined
in detail political, military, economic, psychological, messianic, and other
"theories of causality," then suggested that when individually examined,
these "particularist explanation[s]" reveal nothing new about any single
revitalization movement. Instead, LaBarre reveled in the thought that the
era of "detailed descriptions of single movements or treatments of limited
areas" is giving way to an era of "all-embracing synoptic surveys" (LaBarre
1971:8, 14-26). In other words, a multi-disciplinary, holistic approach
contributes more to the crisis cult literature.
In conjunction with the exemplary works of LaBarre (1971) and
Kehoe (1989), a multitude of variables should be examined to under-
stand the broader implications of the Ghost Dance. LaBarre did not abide
by his own standards when he wrote about the Ghost Dance (LaBarre
1971, I972). He omitted important data-namely, information about the
454 Benjamin R. Kracht
Kiowa Ghost Dance, which was revived in 1894 and lasted until 1916. In
light of this overlooked event, an ethnohistorical analysis of the religious
symbolism in the Kiowa Ghost Dance provides further insights into the
causes of and participation in revitalization movements.
In two books on Gros Ventre and Northern Arapaho history, Loretta
Fowler (1982, I987) aptly combined the ethnohistorical method with sym-
bolic anthropology, producing narratives based on a wide array of oral and
written sources. Fowler perceives "culture" as "a set of established mean-
ings embodied in symbols," that people use to shape their social reality
and to understand their place in the world (Fowler 1987:9). Instead of im-
posing anthropological categories of meaning-theories of acculturation,
stress, and revitalization-on her data, Fowler allows the sources to speak
for themselves, thereby placing categories of meaning into native contexts.
Her methodology is similar to Geertz's (1973:3-30) "thick description,"
or interpretative anthropology, and to the "textualist meta-anthropology"
of James Clifford (1986) and others. These methods require the collec-
tion of a variety of ethnographic "texts" to generate more texts so that a
multiplicity of ethnographic "voices" are present (Rabinow 1986: 242-43).
A combination of these approaches is helpful in culture change studies
because it allows the ethnographer to learn the meanings of people's values
and attitudes through time. In the context of changing social and cul-
tural forms,
meanings are altered in the light of new concerns and new aspirations
drawn from new events, relationships, and circumstances. Thus sym-
bols are invented, discarded, and reinterpreted as they are adapted to
new social realities. A community's view of itself and its past is re-
constructed and new symbols of identity emerge in the light of new,
social, ecological, and psychological conditions. (Fowler I987:9-Io)
Recognizing native models of social reality also gives credence to "the fact
that a community may perceive innovations as expressions of their identity
and as cultural continuities." People often see new ideas and things in light
of their own models of reality, permitting them to "adapt to a changing
social world" (Fowler I987:8).
This ethnohistorical sketch describes the Kiowa Ghost Dance of
1894-1916 emphasizing, symbolically, the movement's differences from
the 1889-91 version of the dance. The Ghost Dance initially symbolized
Kiowa resistance to the rapid transformation of their society through allot-
ment in severalty, living in houses, and conversion to Christianity; typi-
cally, those participating in the rituals of the new movement opposed all
The Kiowa Ghost Dance, 1894-1916 455
efforts to "be civilized" through these means. The revived ceremony repre-
sented a syncretic religion, blending aboriginal Kiowa beliefs, Christianity,
and peyotism, but became secularized by the time the movement died out.
In order to understand Ghost Dance symbolism, it is necessary to out-
line late nineteenth-century Kiowa belief systems, and describe peyotism
and Christian influences. Then, descriptions of the events concerning the
rise and subsequent demise of the Ghost Dance will illustrate that ethno-
historical descriptions of the ritual symbolism in specific revitalization
movements can provide further explanations about why people participate
in crisis cults.
Sources on the Kiowa Ghost Dance
Coverage of the 1890-91 Ghost Dance movement among the Kiowa is

restricted to Mooney (1896), Nye (1983 [1937]:z70-74), Marriott (1983
[I945]: I96-z05), and Mayhall (1984 [I962]: 31-I13). Except for Mooney
(1896:914, 927), and Boyd (1981:91-98), there is no literature about the
revived dance.
Several obscure sources, however, have shed much light on this rela-
tively unknown revitalization movement. Foremost are the unpublished
field notes of Weston LaBarre, Jane Richardson, Bernard Mishkin, William
Bascom, and Donald Collier, members of the Santa Fe Laboratory of
Anthropology field school directed by Alexander Lesser in the summer
of I935. These manuscripts are invaluable because the six scholars cross-
interviewed approximately twenty Kiowa elders about the horse and buf-
falo days, and life at the turn of the century. Collier and LaBarre recorded
the most data concerning the revived dance. Their collective field notes,
housed in the National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institu-
tion, along with Ghost Dance manuscripts from the National Archives,
have been cited elsewhere (Kracht 1989).
In addition, two extremely informative books describing Ghost Dance
ceremonies were written by Isabel Crawford (1915; n.d.), missionary to
the Saddle Mountain Kiowa from 1896 to I906. Her eyewitness descrip-
tions of the ceremony add valuable, yet sometimes biased insights into the
ritual.
The ensuing ethnohistorical sketch is based on these archival sources,
along with data from my fieldwork. I was fortunate that several Kiowa
shared with me their personal recollections, tape recordings, and written
accounts. Some told me what they remembered about the ceremony from
their parents' and grandparents' stories. Altogether, these sources represent
the multiplicity of voices describing this relatively unknown revitalization

movement.
Kiowa Belief Systems Prior to the Ghost Dance
Nineteenth-century Kiowa belief systems were steeped deeply in the con-

cept of dwdw, or "power." Dwdw was a universal force present in every-
thing, including the earth, air, sun, moon, mountains, water, plants, and
animals. These natural entities possessed souls, or spirits that manifested
themselves in natural phenomena like thunder and the four directional
winds. Spirits also assumed animal and bird guises. All spirits had dwdw,
but some were very powerful; Sun, Moon, Stars, Spirits in the Air, and Buf-
falo, respectively, were the strongest spirit powers (Kracht 989: 80-8I).
In Kiowa eschatology, departed human souls went to the land of the
dead, or to the "tipi of the dead." The dead were buried in the ground with
the head facing west in the direction of the afterworld, or were interred in
crevices in the Wichita Mountains. Ghosts frequented places where the de-
ceased had died or been buried, but were not feared unless they appeared
as whirlwinds or owls. The Kiowa believed in transmigration of the soul,
and that evil people or medicine men turned into owls. Owls (and whirl-
winds) were feared and avoided, for it was believed that they bewitched
people, causing "face twisting," or peripheral facial paralysis, sometimes
called Bell's Palsy. During the late-nineteenth century, a number of power-
ful shamans sponsored seances in which they communicated with the dead
using owls as mediums.
Like most Plains groups, the Kiowa believed in supplicating super-
natural forces for power in vision quests. Power also could be obtained
through inheritance or purchase. The few fortunate men with dwdw were
either brave warriors who painted their power symbols on shields, or
skilled curers possessing personal medicine bundles. It was possible to
accumulate different powers, although war and curing powers were mutu-
ally exclusive (Kracht I989: Ioz-8).
Besides personal war shields and medicine bundles, there were eleven
tribal medicine bundles owned by wealthy families. The keepers inherited
the bundles from their fathers, and were regarded as medicine men (not
curers) who evoked spiritual intervention in personal and tribal affairs.
Ten of the bundles were known as the talyi-da-i (boy medicine), or the
Ten Medicines. The keepers of the Ten Medicines served as peacemakers
within the Kiowa camps, and prayed for the well-being of the people.
The Taime bundle-owned by the Taimek'i (Taime man)-contained the
sacred icon that unified the Kiowa during the Sun Dance, which was held
each June if someone pledged to sponsor it and was performed to bestow

good fortune upon the Kiowa. Taime symbolized Sun power, and mediated
between Sun and the people during the Sun Dance (Kracht 989: I46, I52,
168; Scott 191I:35I).
Around 1870 the KCA Indians received peyote from the Mescalero
Apache. Peyote originally was used in divination ceremonies by raiding
parties, but by the mid-I88os, the Kiowa-Comanche ritual evolved into an
all-night ceremony in which the worshippers sat in a tipi with a fire in the
middle and a crescent-shaped earthen altar on the west side. After eating
a desired number of peyote buttons, the supplicants sang fast-paced pey-
ote songs accompanied by a water drum and rattle. The peyote ritual was
opposed in the I87os by a group called the Sons of the Sun that claimed
allegiance to the religion of the Ten Medicines. Even after the ceremony
gained popularity, it was seen as a separate and a less powerful religion
(Kracht I989:766). Today, peyote meetings are very similar to the first
ceremony James Mooney observed in I891; the members sing and pray all
night, many claiming that this is an Indian form of Christianity (Stewart
1987:34-39, 52; Moses 1984:182-84; LaBarre 1938:z5n., III-12, 43-53,
I63n.). There are only a handful of Kiowa peyotists today, but it was esti-
mated that at least half the tribe participated in peyote meetings before
I9I0 (Kracht I989:726).
By the time peyote had made strong inroads on the KCA Reservation,
the Kiowa and their allies were transformed from nomadic foragers and
raiders into sedentary paupers dependent on government subsistence. In
1875, the Kiowa war complex ended when they surrendered their weapons
at Fort Sill, and twenty chained prisoners of war were sent to serve time
at Fort Marion, Florida. The remaining Kiowa were crowded into a single
village near Fort Sill where the army could watch them. This resulted in the
attenuation of war power, for war powers were no longer obtained. The
termination of Kiowa warfare and raiding coincided with the demise of the
Southern Plains buffalo herds, which were extinct by i88i (Mooney I979
[I895-96]:339; ARCIA 1875:610-II; I879:I70-7I; I880: 194; 1881: I37-
38). These changes caused the Sun Dance to decline. Enacting the cere-
mony became extremely complicated after 1878 because the buffalo bull
hunt preceding the construction of the Sun Dance altar was impossible
to complete. The final Kiowa Sun Dances in the I88os were difficult to
perform because of the scarcity of bison bulls needed for the ceremony
(Kracht I989:258, 301-3, 729-32).
Opposition from the Bureau of Indian Affairs during the term of
Commissioner Thomas J. Morgan (1889-93) also led to the demise of
the Kiowa Sun Dance. Morgan, an ordained minister and educator who
formerly taught at a Baptist seminary in Chicago and in public schools,

advocated American Indian policy reforms through compulsory vocational
education. He opposed Indian dancing-especially participation in Wild
West shows-because he felt it detracted from the process of civilizing,
or assimilating Indians into Anglo-American society (Hoxie 1988:2z8;
Fritz 1963:z20; see Prucha 1978:221-59, 309-12). Shortly after taking
office, Morgan issued an order to his Indian agents prohibiting any dances
deemed harmful to their progress. The agents were given the authority to
halt any dances they did not condone. The Kiowa Sun Dance thus ended
in I890, when word circulated that the Fort Sill cavalry had been sent to
stop the ceremony; the mere rumor of army interference caused the dis-
persal of the Sun Dance camp. The "sun dance when the forked poles were
left standing" was the last to be conducted by the Kiowa (Mooney 1979
[1895-96]: 347, 349, 35z-55, 356-59; Methvin n.d.: 73).
Starvation conditions often prevailed on the reservation during the
I88os and I89os, primarily because Congress allocated KCA ration monies
on an annual basis without accounting for the absence of buffalo meat,
which politicians thought was the main staple of the Indians. Even when
Congress acknowledged this problem, annuity funds were still cut in half
(ARCIA I88I:I38; Kracht 1989:449-52). Several Kiowa shamans in the
I88os attempted to bring back the lost herds through conjuring cere-
monies. Inspired by the Kiowa myth about Saynday-the culture hero
who originally released the bison from an underground cavern to populate
the plains-the medicine men tried to revive the herds, but failed. The
power of the Kiowa spirits seemed to have been broken (Mooney 1979
[I895-96]: 349-50, 220, 356-57; Nye i983 [937]: 269).
Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, and Catholic missions and board-
ing schools were built in Kiowa country in the late i88os. Although many
Kiowa initially shunned the Christian churches, a small number of con-
verts supported the missions, and some Carlisle graduates interpreted the
English services into Kiowa or sign language (Kracht i989:698-714). The
peyote religion-and the Ghost Dance-was Christianity's major compe-
tition for the first quarter of the twentieth century, but it is believed that
one third of the Kiowa had become Christians by I922 (Beaver 1988:453).
Further changes affected the KCA Indians in the i88os and I89os.
Forced to abandon camping in extended family groups, the Indians had
to accustom themselves to living in houses. Compelling some turn-of-the-
century Kiowa to inhabit their homes was an extremely difficult task for
the Indian agents. In 1892, the KCA Indians were demoralized further when
they were cajoled into taking allotments and selling the remaining por-
tion of their reservation lands (see Hagan I985: II-30). After nine years of
futile protests and a hard, bitter struggle, the KCA Reservation was opened
for homesteading and the Kiowa lost their lands.
Altogether, these variables helped spawn two Ghost Dance move-
ments among the Kiowa. In embracing the Ghost Dance, the Kiowa dem-
onstrated their tenacity to preserve cultural symbols in a period of rapid
culture change.
The I890-9I Ghost Dance
News of the Ghost Dance came to the Kiowa in the summer of 1890 when
the last Sun Dance was attempted. By this time, Cheyenne and Arapaho
emissaries had visited the Paiute prophet Wovoka, and brought back
the Northern Plains version of the ceremony to the Darlington Agency.
Several Kiowa learned the dance from their Arapaho friends, then took
the ceremony back to the Kiowa Agency at Anadarko, where everyone
gathered for their biweekly rations (Mooney 1896:894-95, 774-76, 907-
8; Berthrong 1976: 38-39, I83, 2I5, 293).
Kiowa involvement in the dance-the October I890 dance at the
mouth of Rainy Mountain Creek was the largest Ghost Dance in Kiowa
history-convinced a skeptical A'piaton, (Wooden Lance), to investigate
Wovoka's qualifications. After trekking to Walker Lake, Nevada to inter-
view the messiah, A'piaton returned to the Anadarko Agency, and on
19 February I891, he told an assembled throng of Indians and government
officials that there was no power in the Ghost Dance. It took all afternoon
for Wooden Lance's speech to be translated into at least five other lan-
guages and, when he finished, most of the Kiowa believers broke down and
cried. Others sulked away sadly, as did Sitting Bull, the Northern Arapaho
proselytizer. Even those opposed to the ceremony remarked that it was one
of the saddest days in their memory (Mooney 1896:908-9, 911-14; I979
[1895-96]:360; Methvin n.d.:76-77; Kracht 1989:794-96, 800-3).
The Revived Ghost Dance
Mooney stated that The Messenger and Poor Buffalo revived the Ghost
Dance through the consent of the lenient agent M. Nichols. Having
been involved in the earlier movement, they reinstated the ceremony on
the Washita River near Carnegie, the Kiowa heartland. Several thousand
Indians from the Kiowa Agency attended (Mooney 1896:914; Methvin
n.d.:77).
LaBarre learned that five others were responsible for reviving the
Ghost Dance: Setzepetoi (Afraid-of-Bears); Tenebwde (Bird Appearing);
Tenetende (Bird Tail) or (Eagle Tail); Kohit'ai (White Buffalo); and Pagudl
(Red Buffalo). In addition, his informants identified five Ghost Dance
headquarters: Afraid-of-Bears and his followers danced on his land west
of Carnegie; a second group met east of Fort Cobb; the third Ghost Dance
group formed in Alden, ten miles south of Anadarko; the fourth Kiowa
group was situated on Sugar Creek, west of Saddle Mountain; and a
Kiowa-Apache congregation was located near modern Apache (see Boyd
1981:92). It was reported that the Penateka Comanche also had a Ghost
Dance group (Kracht 1989:804-5, 779).
Aged and blind, Afraid-of-Bears was renowned for his powers to com-
municate with the dead. Desiring to resurrect his deceased relatives, the old
man composed some Ghost Dance songs in Kiowa, thereby departing from
the earlier reliance on Arapaho songs. He felt that if the Kiowa sang and
danced intensely, the spirits of their relatives would descend from above.
During the dances, Afraid-of-Bears often entered trances to visit deceased
Kiowa, then brought back messages to their kin: "I saw your relatives and
they were so anxious to see you soon." Afraid-of-Bears became the central
figure in the revived Ghost Dance (ibid.: 814-15).
Resurrection, obviously, never occurred, but trances became the pri-
mary feature of the Ghost Dance. The participants believed that entering
trances enabled them to visit their relatives in heaven (a Christian syn-
cretism). Such occurrences were frequently reported. That trances were the
most salient feature of the dance is supported by Mooney's interpretation
of the earlier movement; he suggested that the trances grew in popularity
more than the prophecy promising to return deceased ancestors (Mooney
1896:924). Entering a trance signaled that the dancer successfully had
embarked on a transcendent journey to the spirit world (Kracht 1989: 8ii).
It is probable that the deaths of children contributed to the over-
all desire for trances. Between 1890 and I892, there were over 386 in-
fant deaths-attributed to whooping cough, measles, and pneumonia-on
the KCA Reservation (ARCIA 1892:386). Isabel Crawford attended a Sugar
Creek Ghost Dance in 1896, and suggested that trances were achieved by
parents desiring to visit their deceased children, so many of whom recently
had died (Crawford I915: z7-28). In I914, a Baptist missionary identified
"trances or seances in which they . . . hold communication with the dead
friends and bring messages from God, Jesus, or any person who had died"
as the central feature of the Ghost Dance (Treat I9I4).
Unlike the I890 Ghost Dance, the 1894 version assumed two forms:
large, outdoor ceremonies, and smaller meetings or "sings" held in tipis.
The outdoor dances, conducted by Afraid-of-Bears near Carnegie, were
sponsored every Fourth of July and Christmas (or New Year's). The bi-
The Kiowa Ghost Dance, I894-I196 46I
annual dances featured the circle of dancers holding hands moving clock-
wise in the shuffle step typical of the former ceremony; deer-hoofed stick
rattles provided the only instrumentation to the unnatural-sounding Ghost
Dance songs. One of LaBarre's informants mentioned that the outdoor
dances were conducted in front of a large tipi, and that the dancers falling
into trances either lay on the ground where they fell, or were carried in-
side. A typical Fourth of July dance began in the morning, followed by a
noon meal and more dancing in the afternoon, when most trances occurred
(Kracht I989:805-6).
The Fourth of July dance was very important for the renewal of the
feathers worn by the dancers; Ghost Dancers wore single eagle feathers
in their scalplocks, undoubtedly for their power in ascending to the spirit
world (ibid.: 805-6). Boyd (1981, 93) suggested that Afraid-of-Bears dis-
tributed ten eagle feathers to ten dance leaders in order to retain the sacred
number of the Ten Medicines. This is very probable since his son White
Fox was the last head keeper of the Ten Medicines.
The dancers also wore buckskin shirts decorated with blue-green suns
outlined in yellow, as well as moon and star motifs, and they painted
their faces red and yellow. The solar and lunar motifs were nineteenth-
century power symbols-representing invulnerability-that were crucial
to the movement, for they symbolized protection during the transcendent
journeys to the spirit world (Kracht I989:805-6; see Mooney 1896:920).
An informant recently told me that the dancers also painted crucifixes on
the fronts of their shirts.
Indoor meetings, described as sings, or practice sessions for the out-
door dances, occurred on Sundays, featuring singing, praying, and dancing
in place. Sings began in the morning when cedar was sprinkled in a fire-
to ward off evil influences-located near an earthen cross at the west
side of the tipi. The Arapaho Opening Song was followed by prayers,
then Ghost Dance songs interspersed by ritual smokes. Participants often
entered trances (Kracht 1989:806-7).
The extant information concerning sings comes from the writings
of Isabel Crawford, who first attended one at Sugar Creek on Sunday,
z6 April 1896. The sing began as a prayer meeting under a canvas arbor,
then the four Ghost Dance priests and some Kiowa in holiday attire moved
it into a canvas tipi. Those in attendance sat around the perimeter of the
tipi on bundles of grass covered by blankets. Since it was hot there was no
fire, but a small chunk of charcoal smoldered in the middle of the lodge.
The ceremony began when cedar was sprinkled on the coals, followed by
"weird singing" to the music of drums and rattles. The priests asked Craw-
ford to pray, and when she finished, they added four prayers "mingled
46z Benjamin R. Kracht
with excessive weeping" to evoke the pity of the spirits. When the prayers
ended, Crawford was led outside (Crawford I915: z6-27).
Several weeks later Crawford attended an all-night meeting in a
"new Ghost Dance teepee" on Saddle Mountain Creek. Beginning at nine
o'clock, the first two hours of the ceremony were consumed by singing,
praying, and smoking. Afterwards Afraid-of-Bears put several participants
into trances by placing his hands on their shoulders and swaying them
from side to side in rhythm to the discordant "shaking of gourds and
the . . . wailing of song." When the dancers told of their experiences the
following morning, many described seeing deceased children, buffalo, and
even Jesus Christ (ibid.:z8).
Crawford's published accounts illustrate that there were numerous
syncretisms in the revived Ghost Dance ceremony. The rituals she attended
featured symbols from traditional Kiowa beliefs, peyotism, and Chris-
tianity. At one meeting, she noted that "little wells" in front of the seating
areas served as cuspidors (ibid.:26). The receptacles possibly functioned
to collect the fuzzy pulp spit out by peyote eaters, suggesting peyote use in
the Ghost Dance, although there is no supportive evidence. Nevertheless,
the all-night meetings, and the musical accompaniment of hand drums
and gourd rattles, were derived from the Kiowa-Comanche peyote rite (see
LaBarre 1938: 25n., II; Stewart 1987:47-5I).
Even though peyotism and the Ghost Dance were separate religions,
they were not incompatible, especially since peyote had been around much
longer. Omer Stewart noted that when the Ghost Dance came to Okla-
homa in I890, twenty local tribes already were exposed to peyote (Stewart
I972:27-30). Notably, peyote served as the proselytizing agent respon-
sible for the conversion of Frank White, a Pawnee who ate peyote at
Comanche and Wichita Ghost Dances in I891, then took the Ghost Dance
to the Pawnee (Lesser I978 [1933]:6o). Likewise, John Wilson, or "Moon
Head," the famed Caddo-Delaware peyotist, was also a Ghost Dance
prophet among his people (Mooney I896:90o-5; Stewart 1987:66-67).
Since the Wichita, Caddo, and Delaware (WCD Indians) lived north of the
Washita River and shared the Anadarko Agency with the KCA Indians,
there was much cultural borrowing in this intertribal, or multicultural set-
ting. At any rate, peyote use was tolerated by members of the Ghost Dance
faction. Crawford mentioned that a Kiowa quit going to church because
the missionaries preached against peyote; he "took the feather" and joined
the Ghost Dance movement (Crawford 1915:230-31).
References to the Great Father, Jesus, and the Bible attest to the in-
fluence of Christian missionaries. The presence of Christian syncretisms
in Ghost Dance rituals suggests that the Kiowa adopted concepts from
The Kiowa Ghost Dance, I894-1916 463
Christianity that accommodated their needs. Belief or disbelief in Chris-

tianity was founded in the Kiowa notion of dwdw, or power, which had
remained intact since the collapse of the horse and buffalo culture. Kiowa
individuals merely chose the religion they felt was most powerful-one can
only imagine the religious diversity on the KCA Reservation in the I89os,
for Christianity, peyotism, the Ghost Dance, and other smaller nativistic
movements were commonplace-and the Kiowa did not necessarily have
to commit to one religion; they sought dwdw wherever it existed. Since
it was possible to accumulate different sources of power in nineteenth-
century Kiowa society, what would have prevented an individual from
religious plurality? (See Stewart I987:66-67.)
As mentioned, some Kiowa converted to Christianity in the I89os.
These proselytes were convinced that the Christian faith was the most
powerful due to the good works of the missionaries-who helped the KCA
Indians build houses and taught them how to keep them clean, instructed
the women in baking and canning vegetables, administered to the sick, and
buried the dead-and because they perceived God and Jesus as powerful
guardian spirits. In turn, the Christian converts helped the missionaries
campaign against the "false religions" of peyote and the Ghost Dance
(Kracht I989:698-7I4).
The leaders of the Ghost Dance faction challenged the power of the
Christian groups (their actions were analogous to the power displays and
contests between rival shamans who attempted to bring back the bison
herds in the i88os). They even challenged Isabel Crawford regarding the
second coming of Christ, claiming that he would bring the buffalo back
with him! In the winter of I904, Afraid-of-Bears generated excitement
among the Kiowa when he announced that Jesus was coming to Saddle
Mountain on I5 July at noon. All Crawford could do was wait for the
awaited day to pass, for she found it impossible to dissuade some Kiowa
from believing the prophecy (Crawford I915:230-32).
Perhaps the most important stance taken by the Ghost Dance leaders
was their opposition to all non-Indian concepts on the KCA Reservation-
even though many Christian elements permeated their beliefs-and their
tenacious retention of customs, dancing, and feasting. The Ghost Dance
leaders even told Crawford that: "He [God] gave the Book [Bible] to the
White People ... but he gave the Indians the dance road" (ibid.: z8). The
leaders believed that dancing was a necessary part of the ceremony to
bring about trances, whereas the missionaries opposed dancing (Kracht
I989: 85).
Crawford encountered bitter resistance from the Ghost Dance leaders
in I898 when she built a small "den" on an allotment donated by a Kiowa
Christian convert, Lucius Aitsan (Kills Him on the Sly). There had been
quite "a lot of kicking and talking going on about the building [of the den]
all over the reservation," and the Ghost Dance chiefs said if she built a
house then many whites would follow. They were afraid that fences would
be erected and the land cut off from the Indians. The leaders harassed
Aitsan, but he did not back down (Crawford 1915:99-103). Crawford
mentioned that the Ghost Dancers were also upset because the Indian
agent wanted to break up the Ghost Dance and "other kindred evils among
the Indians" (Crawford n.d.:7).
The Kiowa Ghost Dancers opposed building houses, which they per-
ceived would precipitate the opening of the KCA Reservation for home-
steading. Remaining in small family camps and rejecting houses symbol-
ized their opposition to residing in stationary domiciles; besides, camping
was more conducive to visiting, dancing, and conducting religious cere-
monies. These people firmly embraced old customs and beliefs to preserve
the Kiowa concept of order in contrast to accepting Anglo-American be-
liefs (Kracht 1989:816). Many Kiowa Ghost Dancers refused to live in
their houses well into the second decade of the twentieth century.
The Christian missionaries on the KCA Reservation (the KCA Jurisdic-
tion after 1901) were opposed to the Ghost Dance, which they identified
as an excuse to preserve tribal customs. A Baptist missionary likened the
Ghost Dance to "a crude form of Spiritualism," saying that the messages
from beyond opposed progress, civilization, and Christianity (Gassaway
1914). Another minister identified the dance as "an inclusive religion" that
revered "the Indian medicine man" and "all of the old Kiowa medicine
bags" (Treat I914). Hence the Ghost Dance religion fused together many
aspects of nineteenth-century beliefs.
The revived Ghost Dance was popular because it allowed individu-
als to enter trances and visit with deceased kinfolk. Ghost Dancers also
rejected Anglo-American values and resisted the attempts of missionar-
ies and Indian agents to "civilize" them. The Ghost Dance was a well-
conceived and coordinated attempt to maintain Kiowa traditions after
being defeated, placed on a reservation, and witnessing the disappearance
of the buffalo before finally losing the reservation. The Kiowa were seeking
religious solace in a rapidly changing world.
The Campaign to Eradicate the Kiowa Ghost Dance
As previously mentioned, the Indian Office outlawed certain Indian cus-

toms and ceremonies when Thomas Morgan was Indian commissioner
(1889-93). Enforcement of federal policy varied among the Indian agen-
cies, but in western Oklahoma, where the Kiowa, Comanche, Plains

Apache, Cheyenne, and Arapaho were making the transition from hunt-
ing and gathering to sedentism and agriculture, the agents disapproved of
dances involving intertribal visiting and gift giving. They felt that the large
camps kept the Indians from their homes too long, thereby distracting
them from agricultural and stock-raising pursuits (Young I98I: zI9).
Kiowa Ghost Dance leaders, however, encountered little opposition
from officials at the Anadarko Agency between I894 and I909, although
some missionaries spoke against the dance. The Sun Dance was still pro-
hibited because of its reputed self-torture, but the Ghost Dance continued
unchallenged primarily because it was a non-violent affair held under
the auspices of the Fourth of July and Christmas. Government boarding
schools had indoctrinated Indians about the importance of national holi-
days, so many reasoned that they could conduct ceremonies on the same
days; many turn-of-the-century Indian ceremonies assumed the guise of
national and Christian holidays to keep outsiders from interfering. The
Kiowa Ghost Dance acquired patriotic and Christian symbols to appease
the Indian agents. A ca. I9I5 photograph of a Kiowa Ghost Dance depicts
two American flags waving in the foreground. Observers of the Kiowa
ceremony also stated that it resembled a Christian prayer meeting. Be-
tween I889 and the early I9zos, it was not uncommon for the Ghost
Dance leaders to seek permission from their agent to sponsor patriotic and
Christian-like gatherings (Kracht I989:824-25).
Although Kiowa Ghost Dances had acquired some syncretic sym-
bols, traditional activities, war dancing in particular, became increasingly
popular during the height of the movement. One of LaBarre's informants
told him that the large outside dances were accompanied by war dancing,
and he described a dance featuring people dancing around an open fire
holding cedar in their right hands. After the Opening Song the cedar was
thrown into the fire with the prayer: "God says for you to worship me, you
people, I am the one who will bring you happiness." The dance steps were
described as being very similar to the Scalp Dance, and the old warrior
society dances (ibid.: 807-8).
It appears that the Ghost Dance served as a vehicle that perpetuated
Kiowa war dancing. In his important article on "Shamanistic and Dancing
Societies," Wissler (I916) noted that "the ghost dance was but one of a
group of modern ceremonies which have since become conspicuous be-
cause of their diffusion. Among the best known of these are the peyote, the
hand game ceremonies, and the grass dance." In Oklahoma, these "col-
lateral movements" were closely associated due to "unnatural [intertribal]
proximity" (ibid.:868, 870). Thus, since the earlier Cheyenne-Arapaho
Ghost Dance featured an auxiliary dance called the "Crow Dance" (see
Mooney I896:9o0, 92-22z), it is possible that the Kiowa Ghost Dance
was accompanied by the O-ho-mah, a war dance given to the Kiowa by
the Cheyenne in 1883. Mooney likened the Crow Dance to the "Omaha
dance, common to the northern prairie tribes," and he claimed that the
dance was performed to achieve trances (Mooney I896:90I, 922).
The O-ho-mah Dance and the Grass, or Omaha, Dance were varia-
tions of a basic theme. War dances were popular in the Oklahoma Territory
in the i88os because the Kiowa, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Ponca, and Pawnee
continued their favorite dances (see Young I98I:z19-39), some in con-
junction with the Ghost Dance. Importantly, the Kiowa origin myths for
the Ghost Dance and O-ho-mah Dance are similar since they feature a
story about the giving of the feather. The Kiowa even called the Ghost
Dance the "Feather Dance," because the dancers wore single eagle feathers
in their scalplocks, analogous to the feathers worn by O-ho-mah war
dancers (see Boyd I98I: 89-98, 65-70).
Gift giving was a central feature of the O-ho-mah Dance. The origin
myth states that the Cheyenne who gave the dance to the Kiowa also pre-
sented the recipients with eagle feathers. In return, each Kiowa presented
with a feather gave a horse to his Cheyenne benefactor. The ritual of gift
giving that accompanied the O-ho-mah Dance became known as the Gift
Dance. It has been suggested that the Gift Dance grew out of the O-ho-
mah Dance because gift giving was very important in Oklahoma intertribal
dances (Young I98I: 229, 239).
The Gift Dance had become such a salient feature of the Ghost
Dance and intertribal dances that, by I909, Superintendent Ernest Stecker
took notice. In a letter to the commissioner of Indian Affairs, he com-
plained that, during the summer, Cheyenne and Arapaho from the Dar-
lington Agency had visited the Kiowa and Comanche after a church
camp meeting and annuity payment, and much to his consternation, danc-
ing and gift giving highlighted the gatherings. Dismayed that the Kiowa
had abandoned their homes, a detriment to their "civilization," Stecker
expressed his wish to withhold per capita payments-biannual interest
payments from the sale of the KCA Reservation-from the participants
(Stecker I909).
Stecker reprimanded the Kiowa dancers when they came to Anadarko
in January 910o to collect their monies. Reproaching them in council, he
informed them that their payments would be withheld unless their crop
yields increased the following summer (Stecker I9Io). The Indian Office
notified Stecker that there were no laws permitting him to withhold an-
nuity payments, although he was not discouraged from threatening the
dance leaders (Hauke I910).
The Kiowa Ghost Dance, I894-I916 467
Stecker unsuccessfully tried to break up the Ghost and Gift Dances

during his tenure (I908-I915). In I913, he lamented to the Indian Office
that "a class of cheap lawyers" had advised the Kiowa dance leaders
that they could legally dance. Identifying the Ghost Dance as the catalyst
for the "Give-away" and other "detrimental" dances, Stecker singled out
Afraid-of-Bears as the leader of the annual July Fourth dance, which he
felt aroused the "Calling of the Wild" among his charges (Stecker I913).
The Indian Office informed Stecker to further investigate Kiowa dances
(Hauke 1913).
The Ghost Dance controversy heated up in June 1914 when Afraid-
of-Bears sought approval for the July Fourth dance. When Stecker flatly
refused this request, the blind prophet informed him that the Kiowa would
dance anyway. An incensed Stecker solicited letters from local missionaries
and A'piaton-the former Ghost Dance skeptic-denouncing the move-
ment (Gassaway I914; Clouse 1914; Treat 1914; Martinez 1914; Ah-pe-ah-
to 1913; Stecker 1914). After reading accusations of unsanitary conditions,
adulterous encounters, extravagant gift giving, and other alleged acts of
misconduct, Commissioner Cato Sells (1913-21) informed Stecker and
Afraid-of-Bears that the Ghost Dance should be discontinued (Sells 1914a,
I914b). The dance was held anyway, and several months later the assistant
Indian commissioner wrote a proclamation to be read to the dance leaders
expressing disapproval of the Gift and Ghost Dances (Meritt 1914).
When C. V. Stinchecum replaced Stecker on i April 1915, he inherited
an unresolved Ghost Dance controversy involving two Kiowa factions:
A'piaton and the anti-Ghost Dance group (represented by Christianized
Kiowa) versus Kiowa Bill, James Waldo, and the "dance crowd," perceived
by Stecker as the troublemakers in the KCA Jurisdiction. Stecker claimed
that the Kiowa were the only tribe at his agency "cling[ing] to these in-
jurious dances or gatherings." Before stepping down from office, Stecker
angrily suggested withholding per capita payments from the Kiowa "who
persist in keeping alive these superstitious rites and dances" (Stecker I9I5).
Stinchecum confronted the Ghost Dance faction two months into his
term. In late June, he sent a panicky wire to Washington stating that five
hundred Indians were planning a week-long July Fourth dance, and that
twenty-five dance leaders had defiantly produced a letter from a Law-
ton law firm proclaiming their legal right to dance (Stinchecum 19Isa).
After several days passed without a reply to his telegram, Stinchecum took
matters into his own hands. Calling the dance leaders into his office on
z July, he threatened to withhold their per capita payments if the dance
was held. Since the Ghost Dancers had already established their camp for
the upcoming dance, they offered a compromise: they would restrict their
festivities to a two-day "picnic" on July 4 and 5, and then would break
camp. Stinchecum gleefully wrote Sells that "for the first time in years,
the ghost dance crowd met on the 4th of July and did not have a dance."
By threatening their "pocketbook," he believed that he had found "a spot
which was even more sacred to them than this so called religion ... [which
is] ... a cloak to cover their desire to dance" (Stinchecum I915b).
The Indian Office did not officially endorse Stinchecum's policy, yet he
was not reprimanded (Meritt 1915 a). In August, A'piaton dictated another
letter to the Indian Office stating that as federally recognized "Chief of the
[Kiowa] Tribe," he and "a large majority of the progressive Indians" at
the agency fully supported Superintendent Stinchecum. By the tone of the
letter, A'piaton had abandoned peyotism and war dancing for Christianity
(Ah-pe-ah-to I915). A'piaton's letter compelled Afraid-of-Bears to dictate
a letter defending the Ghost Dance:
I am the head-man of the so-called "Ghost Dance" and I am going to

explain the truth about our meeting, we pray to the same savior and
the Father, who made the heaven and earth. We hold our meetings on
Sundays all the year around, I pray on Sundays and on the Fourth of
July and twenty-fifth of December we dance outside of the tabernacle;
and the dance I have danced, I called it a religious dance, but the mis-
sionaries called it a Ghost Dance. On Sunday[s] I have meeting[s] in
the inside of the teepee during the day; and on July 4th I have my
religious dance which lasts for about four days-I have a great feast
on Sunday, and on the following Monday I dance, and this is the way
I have my meeting. (Saitahpetato I915)
This letter nicely displays syncretisms with Christianity, suggesting that

Afraid-of-Bears had incorporated Christian concepts into the Ghost Dance
doctrine. On the other hand, it is possible that the Christian and patriotic
themes were designed by the blind prophet to protect the "dance road."
Since the Indian Office did not desire the Ghost Dance to continue
(Meritt I915b), the Kiowa dance leaders emphasized its Christian elements
when they requested to hold a dance in July I916. Big Tree, concurrently
a Christian and peyotist, wrote Sells a letter defending the Ghost Dance.
He stressed that the Kiowa dance participants "were praying to the same
God" as "the white people in their churches" (Big Tree 1916). The Indian
Office had earlier informed Big Tree that the "old dances" were to be dis-
continued (Meritt I916a). Commissioner Sells informed Stinchecum that
the dance was to be eradicated, and that any Indians accused of participat-
ing in the "vicious" Ghost Dance were to have their per capita payments
withheld (Sells I916).
Threats from Sells and Stinchecum did not dissuade some Kiowa from
dancing on remote allotments that summer with Cheyenne visitors from
the Darlington Agency (Stinchecum i9i6a; Meritt i9i6b, 1916c). After a
long investigation, Stinchecum accused seventy-nine Kiowa of unautho-
rized dancing, and ordered their fall per-capita payments withheld until
everyone assured him that they would never again conduct Ghost and
Gift Dances (Stinchecum I916b, I916C; Meritt i9i6d, I916e). The black-
list included some well-known Kiowa, including Kiowa Bill, White Buf-
falo, Bert Geigaumah, White Horse, Frank Givens, Red Buffalo, Charley
Buffalo, Silverhorn, Guy Quoetone, Conklin Humming Bird, Max Frizzle-
head, and Kiowa Jim Tongkeamah (Stinchecum I917a). Attrition caused
many of them to sign the affidavit that winter, although by the summer of
I917, less than half of the blacklisted individuals had signed (Stinchecum
I9I7b, I9I17).
The Ghost Dance all but ended because of this harassment, although
some surreptitious dances went unnoticed for several years. One of my
informants, a son of Kiowa Jim, witnessed two Ghost Dances in 19zo. A
Ghost Dance was held in I9z9 at an Indian fair for the benefit of the spec-
tators (Young I98: z8z), but the ceremony had lost its significance and
shortly thereafter faded into obscurity. Nevertheless, the songs remained
in the Kiowa song repertoire, and a collaborator informed me that through
the I95os, Kiowa elders were oftentimes called upon to sing Ghost Dance
songs at the conclusion of powwows. The Kiowa Ghost Dance had become
relegated to a secular event.
As the Ghost Dance lost popularity in the 19zos, the Gift Dance per-
severed in O-ho-mah Society dances and other tribal and intertribal dances
featuring war dancing. Despite Stinchecum's strict policies between 19I6
and 9z22, enough Kiowa loved dancing to perpetuate it by resorting to
clandestine dances on private allotments, a practice that continued into the
I95os. Because of this, many contemporary Kiowa believe that the Kiowa
were born to dance. When Stinchecum left office in 9z22, his successor,
John A. Buntin, was more lenient towards Indian dances. By that time,
state and Indian fairs perpetuated war dancing.
Significantly, several of the Kiowa who refused to sign Stinchecum's
anti-Ghost Dance affidavit have been identified as some of the original war
dancers who obtained the O-ho-mah Dance from the Cheyenne: Little Joe,
White Buffalo, Silverhorn, and Red Buffalo. Red Buffalo is credited with
assisting in the revival of the 1894 Ghost Dance, and the auditorium at the
Kiowa Tribal Complex is called Red Buffalo Hall in his honor; powwows
featuring war dancing and the Kiowa Gourd Dance occur in this building.
Had it not been for persistent Kiowa like Red Buffalo who refused to quit
dancing during Stinchecum's tenure, perhaps today there would be a much

smaller repertoire of Kiowa songs and dances.
Conclusion
Of all the religious practices among the Kiowa at the turn of the cen-
tury, the Ghost Dance was most unusual because it combined so many
elements from different religious beliefs-tribal religions, prophesy, pey-
otism, and Christianity. The resultant Ghost Dance syncretisms reflect the
vast cultural diversity on the KCA Reservation a hundred years ago. The
revived Ghost Dance was similar to the earlier ceremony with its empha-
sis on trances, which were important to those wishing to visit departed
souls in the spirit world. The movement also became associated with those
Kiowa perceived as incorrigible by the Indian agents, missionaries, and
Christian Kiowa. The "Ghost Dance crowd" opposed "progress"-wear-
ing "civilized dress," living in houses, and attending church-on the KCA
Reservation, which to them symbolized the end of their freedom and the
breaking up of their lands for allotment. In time, the Ghost Dance faction
was identified as the "dance crowd," those who clung to war dancing and
other vestiges of the past.
By the early twentieth century, the Ghost Dance had acquired strong
Christian symbolism, suggesting that the movement had transformed into
a Kiowa version of Christianity. Some of my informants have indicated
that the Kiowa who participated in the Ghost Dance were confused by
rapid cultural change, and that they incorporated Christian concepts into
the ceremony because they did not know any better. Seeking to learn more
about the Christian syncretisms, I recently transcribed English glosses for
some Ghost Dance songs that were played for me. The songs sounded like
Kiowa church hymns, and some of them referred to "God in Heaven" and
to "the man with the long hair" [Jesus] living in the clouds. The following
two songs show syncretisms with Christianity and the I890 Ghost Dance:
Grandmother awaken me
because the clouds will move,
and the earth will shake.
Grandmother awaken me.
The world will shake,
and it [Judgment Day] will happen.
Father, I am glad I am alive.

I am living under the clouds.
Because of God I am living.
I am beneath the clouds on the grass.
My informant said that the Ghost Dancers were emotionally stirred up by

these songs, which compelled them to dance until they fell into trances.
It is significant that she compared this behavior to that of contemporary
Christian Kiowa, who get very emotional at church services and prayer
meetings-she saw no difference between the Ghost Dance and Chris-
tianity at this level. Based on these Christian syncretisms, and the fact that
many contemporary Kiowa perceive that Christianity has the strongest
dwdw, I believe that most of the former Ghost Dancers became Christians
after I920. Currently, there are some Kiowa peyotists, but the majority
attend Baptist, Methodist, or Pentecostal churches, and the services are
conducted in the emotional Pentecostal style.
It appears that the Ghost Dance was losing its religious significance by
the time Superintendent Stinchecum outlawed the ceremony, and that the
movement was becoming secularized as war dancing became more popular
in the I9Ios. If this was not the case, why did war dancing go under-
ground with the O-ho-mah Society while the Ghost Dance was permitted
to die out? Had the Ghost Dance maintained its sacred importance, then it
would have gone underground as well. Perhaps it was quietly permitted to
disappear to convince Stinchecum that he had won at least one anti-dance
battle. Moreover, war dancing was probably more important to the Kiowa
at the time, because not all the blacklisted Kiowa signed Stinchecum's affi-
davit agreeing to quit dancing. War dancing had also acquired religious
themes, as represented by ritual gift giving, an important event in Plains
dances today.
It should come as no surprise that most Kiowa who currently par-
ticipate in powwows know that their ancestors were forbidden to dance,
and that the Sun Dance and Ghost Dance were banned by the government;
some have even suggested that the army stood by to enforce anti-dancing
policies. The perception that the Kiowa were persecuted for their religious
beliefs is very much alive today, and fits in well with the revitalistic nature
of contemporary powwows.
That powwows-the term used to define pan-Indian social dances-
became sacred after the demise of the Ghost Dance is attested by con-
temporary Indian dances in Oklahoma and Texas. I have not witnessed
a powwow that does not feature ritual praying accompanying the dances
and other festivities, and where the dances themselves are not considered
sacred. The dances take place in a "sacred" dance circle which geographi-
cally separates the dancers from the spectators, and anybody who enters
the circle without an invitation is considered to be rude and disrespectful.
Entering the dance arena is regarded as a transcendent journey to a world
different than the everyday world in which they live. As many Indians in
the Dallas area have told me, participating in powwows is a way to cele-
brate their "Indianness" for an evening, and to temporarily forget about

surviving in the white man's world. Jim Howard (1976) suggested that the
Gourd Dance-a pan-Indian dance in Oklahoma and Texas powwows-
is a modern revitalization movement:
Like many recent movements of this type it is secular in nature, though

a certain religious feeling has come to be attached to it by many of
its adherents, whose behavior strongly resembles that of converts to
a new religion. (Howard 1976:256-57)
If Jim Howard were alive today, he probably would rephrase this sentence,
for modern powwows in Oklahoma and Texas certainly have acquired
religious overtones. Powwows are much more than secular phenomena.
The Kiowa who participated in the Ghost Dance and kept the O-ho-
mah dances going despite persecution were responsible for many Kiowa
songs that can be heard today at intertribal powwows in Oklahoma and
Texas-most powwows feature Kiowa songs. Had it not been for a hand-
ful of individuals who struggled to keep Kiowa song and dance alive
during the Ghost Dance period, there would be fewer Kiowa songs today;
intertribal powwows would have a different character. Although largely
forgotten and overlooked, the Kiowa Ghost Dance played a significant role
in Kiowa history, and on a larger scale, influenced the powwows that are
so important in the Southern Plains today.
This discussion of the Kiowa Ghost Dance has demonstrated that
single descriptions of revitalization movements can provide much more
information concerning the reasons people participate in them. It is hoped
that ethnohistorical studies concerning the religious symbolism of other
Ghost Dance movements will emerge to shed more light on this subject.
Notes
I would like to thank Alice B. Kehoe of Marquette University, Raymond D. Fogel-

son of the University of Chicago, and Raymond J. DeMallie of Indiana University
for reading and commenting on the original draft of this article. Their valuable
comments and suggestions facilitated editing and revisions. I would also like to
thank John Phinney of Southern Methodist University for his constant support and
bibliographic assistance. Special thanks go to the many Kiowa individuals who
have helped me over the years. This article is dedicated to my recently deceased
adopted Kiowa grandfather, Weiser Tongkeamah, and his family.
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The Kiowa Ghost Dance, 1894-1916: An Unheralded Revitalization Movement

Author(s): Benjamin R. Kracht

Benjamin R. Kracht, Northeastern State University

Abstract. The Kiowa Ghost Dance movement of I894-I916 is relatively unknown.

Sources on the Kiowa Ghost Dance

Coverage of the 1890-91 Ghost Dance movement among the Kiowa is

the multiplicity of voices describing this relatively unknown revitalization

Kiowa Belief Systems Prior to the Ghost Dance

Nineteenth-century Kiowa belief systems were steeped deeply in the con-

each June if someone pledged to sponsor it and was performed to bestow

formerly taught at a Baptist seminary in Chicago and in public schools,

The I890-9I Ghost Dance

The Revived Ghost Dance

Christianity that accommodated their needs. Belief or disbelief in Chris-

The Campaign to Eradicate the Kiowa Ghost Dance

As previously mentioned, the Indian Office outlawed certain Indian cus-

cies, but in western Oklahoma, where the Kiowa, Comanche, Plains

Stecker unsuccessfully tried to break up the Ghost and Gift Dances

I am the head-man of the so-called "Ghost Dance" and I am going to

This letter nicely displays syncretisms with Christianity, suggesting that

dancing during Stinchecum's tenure, perhaps today there would be a much

Father, I am glad I am alive.

My informant said that the Ghost Dancers were emotionally stirred up by

brate their "Indianness" for an evening, and to temporarily forget about

Like many recent movements of this type it is secular in nature, though

I would like to thank Alice B. Kehoe of Marquette University, Raymond D. Fogel-

1910 Letter to Commissioner Valentine, 25 January. 1910. 25 January. NARS

1875-92 Annual Reports of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Washington,

Boyd, Maurice, ed.

1989 Ghost Dance. In Native American Religions. Lawrence E. Sullivan, ed.

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