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32-561: The Ani-Kutani might be connected to the Longhair Clan, or Anigilohi (ᎠᏂᎩᎶᎯ), or "fire priests" that existed in historic times. They were either a clerical class and/or a hereditary clan. "Aní-" is a prefix referring to a group of individuals. From the writings of James Mooney , Myths of the Cherokee, section 108 "The Massacre of the Ani'-Kuta'ni. "Among other perishing traditions is that relating to

64-489: A distance. He wanted to learn and to teach other Americans about their culture. He published several books based on his studies of Native American tribes. Mooney provides a preface with a historical survey of comparable millenarian movements among other American Indian groups. In response to the rapid spread of the Ghost Dance among tribes of the western United States in the early 1890s, Mooney set out to describe and understand

96-507: A religious leader who had founded the Ghost Dance of 1870. From the age of eight until almost thirty Wovoka often worked for David Wilson, a rancher in the Yerington, Nevada , area, and his wife Abigail, who gave him the name Jack Wilson when dealing with Euro-Americans . David Wilson was a devout Christian , and Wovoka learned Christian theology and Bible stories while living with him. One of his chief sources of authority among Paiutes

128-476: A scientist, his objective attitude toward Native Americans contrasted with other writing, which was often either romantic or discriminatory. He largely accepted the goal of Indian assimilation as outlined by reformers of the era. But, he was a witness to what the costs were to the traditional peoples and reported on issues and changes with objectivity. During the late 1800s Native Americans were under harsh attack in many areas, and essentially subjects of genocide by

160-622: A spiritual movement among various Native American culture groups, after Sitting Bull 's death in 1890. His works on the Cherokee include The Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees (1891), and Myths of the Cherokee (1900). All were published by the US Bureau of American Ethnology , within the Smithsonian Institution . Native American artifacts collected by Mooney are held in the collections of

192-683: The Bureau of American Ethnology . He married Ione Lee Gaut on September 28, 1897, in Washington, D.C., and had six children. One son was the writer Paul Mooney . Mooney died of heart disease in Washington, D.C. , on December 22, 1921. He was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Washington, D.C. Full etexts of many of the above are available at archive.org Wovoka Wovoka ( c.  1856 – September 20, 1932), also known as Jack Wilson ,

224-671: The Native American Church , Dorrington found that Wovoka was instead living a humble life in Mason, Nevada . He abstained from the practice, worked as an occasional medicine man , and traveled to events on reservations across the United States. Wovoka died in Yerington on September 20, 1932, and is interred in the Paiute Cemetery in the town of Schurz, Nevada . Native American band Redbone named their 1973 album Wovoka , and

256-448: The Ani'Kuta'ni or Ani'Kwata'ni, concerning whom the modern Cherokee know so little that their very identity is now a matter of dispute, a few holding that they were an ancient people who preceded the Cherokee and built the mounds, while others, with more authority, claim that they were a clan or society in the tribe and were destroyed long ago by pestilence or other calamity." The Ani'Kuta'ni most likely supervised religious ceremonies among

288-485: The Cherokee. They may have been moundbuilders who lived in the Appalachian lands in which Cherokees settled. Mooney's informants described this group as much despised, corrupt abusers of their religious power. Mooney stated they were so completely wiped out that even at the mention of them by Principal Chief John Ross and Dr J. B. Evans in 1866, the story and legend were stated to be a century old and must have (due to

320-629: The Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History , Smithsonian Institution and the Department of Anthropology, Field Museum of Natural History . Papers and photographs from Mooney are in the collections of the National Anthropological Archives, Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution. James Mooney was born on February 10, 1861, in Richmond , Indiana , son of Irish Catholic immigrants. His formal education

352-609: The Eastern band of the Cherokee. He compiled a list of Native American tribes that totaled 3,000 names. It ended after the US Army's 1890 massacre of Lakota people at Wounded Knee, South Dakota . Mooney became recognized as a national expert on the American Indian. Mooney's writing style was widely considered as evocative. His sympathetic treatment of Native Americans is attributed to his upbringing and ethnic heritage. Although he wrote as

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384-523: The Ghost Dance movement, and arguably sought conflict with the Lakota tribe as a means of condemning these practices. Wovoka never left his home in Nevada to become an active participant in the dance's dissemination in the U.S. interior. Indian Agents, soldiers, and other federal officials tended to have a hostile and sometimes violent attitude toward the movement. Wovoka was disheartened by how events unfolded at

416-450: The Lakota interpretation promoted hostility toward US federal agents, it did not explicitly advocate for violent action. Historical evidence suggests that the unconventional practice of Christianity on the part of the Lakota tribe was largely responsible for the tensions between Whites and Native Americans leading up to the Battle at Wounded Knee. US authorities challenged the theological views of

448-467: The Middle of Many Tracks", and commonly known as Anko. Other Plains tribes kept pictorial records, which are known as winter counts . They were commonly created in the winter, when the people were indoors, and expressed major events of the year. The Kiowa recorded two events for each year, offering a finer-grained record and twice as many entries for any given period. Silver Horn (1860–1940), or Haungooah,

480-577: The Paiute dead, and the removal of whites and their works from North America . Wovoka taught that in order to bring this vision to pass, the Native Americans must live righteously and perform a traditional round dance, known as the Ghost Dance . Wovoka's prophetic message referenced a number of Christian theological concepts. In the "Messiah Letters", Wovoka spoke of Jesus Christ's life on Earth and likened

512-520: The United States of America. The Indian Wars, intended to suppress tribal resistance to European-American settlement of the West, was generally presented as required because Native Americans made unjustified attacks on pioneers. Mooney wrote more objectively about issues in the West. Mooney took the time to observe various Native American tribes in the way they lived on a daily basis. Prior to his work, most people outside reservations learned about issues only from

544-488: The dance of Pride.".. In the 2007 film Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee , Wovoka is portrayed by Wes Studi . The Dead Inklings, an American indie rock band, has written a song about Wovoka and the ghost dance entitled "Them Bones". The band Old Crow Medicine Show mentions "the prophets from Elijah to the old Paiute Wovoka" in the song "I Hear Them All", from their album Big Iron World . Written by David Rawlings , "I Hear Them All" also appears on his album A Friend of

576-456: The dimness of detail) been even older than a century even then. James Mooney James Mooney (February 10, 1861 – December 22, 1921) was an American ethnographer who lived for several years among the Cherokee . Known as "The Indian Man", he conducted major studies of Southeastern Indians, as well as of tribes on the Great Plains . He did ethnographic studies of the Ghost Dance ,

608-843: The foretold redemption of Native Americans to a biblical Judgement Day. Wovoka made references to the reunion of the living and the dead, and also advocated for non-violence in the Christian spirit of pacifism and fair temperament. In its imagery and symbolism, the Ghost Dance embodied many of these Christian principles. Anthropologists, historians, and theologians provide conflicting accounts on when and how Wovoka had his vision. One scholar of religions, Tom Thatcher, cites James Mooney's Smithsonian-sponsored anthropological report to claim that Wovoka received his first vision while chopping wood for David Wilson in 1887. Conversely, historian Paul Bailey utilized Mooney's work along with interviews with Wovoka's contemporaries and interpreters to assert that he received

640-422: The history, archaeology, geographic nomenclature, personal names, botany, medicine, arts, home life, religion, songs, ceremonies, and language of the tribe. Published posthumously, this account of the Cherokee started with their first contact with whites and, through battles won and lost, treaties signed then broken, towns destroyed and people massacred, ended around 1900. There is humanity along with inhumanity in

672-463: The massacre. He still remained a prominent Native American leader until his death. Sometime between 1894 and 1896, he was reported to have been a sideshow attraction at a San Francisco Midwinter Fair Carnival. In 1917, an agent for the Nevada Agency named L.A. Dorrington tracked down Wovoka to report on his whereabouts to Washington. Curious to see if the former Native American messiah had any ties to

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704-592: The movement came from U.S. Indian Office , U.S. War Department , and multiple Native American tribal delegations. As the movement spread across the American west, various interpretations of Wovoka's original message were adopted, notably by the Lakota Sioux living on the Pine Ridge reservation. The Lakota interpretation was considered more militant, placing additional emphasis on the foretold elimination of White men. Although

736-460: The phenomenon. He visited Wovoka , the Ghost Dance prophet, at his home in Nevada . He also traced the movement of the Ghost Dance from place to place, describing the ritual and recording the distinctive song lyrics of seven separate tribes. "The desire to preserve to future ages the memory of past achievements is a universal human instinct,"Mooney said. "The reliability of the record depends chiefly on

768-409: The relations between the Cherokee and other groups, Indian and non-Indian; there is fortitude and persistence balanced with disillusionment and frustration. In these respects, the history of the Cherokee epitomizes the experience of most Native Americans, Mooney writes. This, among with most, if not all of Mooney's works, is considered dispassionate and matter-of-fact, which is why his works are found in

800-549: The title song, after the prophet. In the 1971 film Billy Jack , Billy, played by Tom Laughlin , teaches the Ghost Dance to Indians and students of the Montessori Freedom School. In the moments leading up to this session, Billy's girlfriend Jean (played by Laughlin's wife, Delores Taylor), explains Wovoka and the Ghost Dance to an abused teenage girl hiding from her abusive father at the school. Jean says that once, even Christ appeared to Wovoka. In 1988 'Ghost Dance'

832-485: The truthfulness of the recorder and the adequacy of the method employed." Mooney earned the confidence of the Kiowa who told him about their system of calendars to record events. They told him that the first calendar keeper in their tribe was Little Bluff, or Tohausan, principal chief of the tribe from 1833 to 1866. Mooney also worked with two other calendar keepers, Settan, or Little Bear; and Ankopaingyadete , meaning "In

864-567: The vision after entering a two-day trance, awaking in tears. Regardless, shortly after receiving the vision and its message, it moved quickly beyond his local Paiute community by word of mouth to Native American tribes further east, notably the Lakota . The Ghost Dance movement is known for being practiced by the victims of the Wounded Knee Massacre . Before the Ghost Dance reached Native Americans on South Dakota plains reservations, interest in

896-413: Was his alleged ability to control the weather. He was said to have caused a block of ice to fall out of the sky on a summer day, to be able to end drought with rain or snow, to light his pipe with the sun, and to form icicles in his hands. Wovoka claimed to have had a prophetic vision after falling into a coma during the solar eclipse of January 1, 1889 . Wovoka's vision entailed the resurrection of

928-495: Was limited to the public schools of the city. He became a self-taught expert on American tribes by his own studies and his careful observation during long residences with different groups. The field of ethnography was new in the late 19th century, and he helped create high standards for the work. In 1885 he started working with the Bureau of American Ethnology (now part of the Smithsonian Institution ) at Washington, D.C. , under John Wesley Powell . In 1887, he moved to live among

960-593: Was remastered and reissued on the eponymous ' Death Cult ' compact disc. Reaching No. 2 on the UK Independent Chart when originally released in July 1983. Ian Astbury (singer and songwriter with Billy Duffy) spent formative years in Canada in which his part Native American heritage was to become a small but important part of his songwriting. "Wovoka had a vision, His words went far and wide - Save our once great nation, and dance

992-580: Was the Paiute religious leader who founded a second episode of the Ghost Dance movement. Wovoka means "cutter" or "wood cutter" in the Northern Paiute language . Wovoka was born in the Smith Valley area southeast of Carson City, Nevada , around 1856. Quoitze Ow was his birth name. Wovoka's father was Numu-tibo'o (sometimes called Tavibo), who for several decades was incorrectly believed to be Wodziwob ,

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1024-776: Was the most highly esteemed artist of the Kiowa tribe in the 19th and 20th centuries, and kept a calendar. He was a respected religious leader in his later years. Mooney also spent much time with the Cherokee, by then removed to Indian Territory (in what is now Oklahoma and North Carolina). For many years he worked with Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians elder and translator Will West Long . He studied their language, culture, and mythology. This comprehensive volume compiled 126 Cherokee myths, including sacred stories, animal myths, local legends, wonder stories, historical traditions, and miscellaneous myths and legends. Some myths included: The book also includes original Cherokee manuscripts, relating to

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