The 1870 Ghost Dance

Notes

335 Abbreviations aa American Anthropologist jafl Journal of American Folk-Lore uc-paae University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology Introduction 1. “Wintun” is used throughout this paper for the group known in the older literature as Central Wintun or Nomlaki. The Northern Wintun are called “Wintu,” and the Southern Wintun are designated as “Patwin.” 2. A. H. Gayton, “The Ghost Dance of 1870 in South-Central California,” ucpaae 28 (1930): 57–82. 1.Nevada and the Klamath Drainage 1. For the Paviotso of Owens Valley, Julian Steward says: “Ghosts of the dead, appearing and talking to the people, at night, were the only clearly conceived spirits” (“The Ethnography of the Owens Valley Paiute,” uc-paae 33 [1933]: 307). 2. James Mooney, “The Ghost Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890,” Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Part 2 (1896): 701–4. 3. Ibid., 701. 4. This date given by Mooney,“Ghost Dance Religion,”764. N. P. Phister (“The Indian Messiah,” aa, o.s., 4 [1891]: 105, 106) also identifies the earlier prophet as Jack Wilson’s father, but he gives no name. He dates the first preaching in 1869. 5. Park reports that his Paviotso name was Pongi and that the name Weneyuga was bestowed on him by the Washo from the last word in his song, wunu’ga puniu (“sound of the wind”). However, Frank Spencer is known throughout the area of his proselytizing efforts as Weneyuga or some variant thereof. 6. This idea that believers in the adventist doctrine died sooner than skeptics Notes 336 is widespread in California. The Ghost Dance is thought to be somehow responsible for the decrease in Indian population. 7. I. T. Kelly, “Ethnography of the Surprise Valley Paiute,” uc-paae 31 (1932): 179–80. 8. Apparently, Wodziwob, like the later prophet, Jack Wilson, suffered under the distortion of his original doctrine and attempted to correct misconstruction without at the same time losing prestige. From the statements in this account, I assume that Wodziwob claimed power to conjure up a few dead and then quite independently prophesied the influx of white people. The latter was a favorite subject for prophecy among shamans at the time. Weneyuga probably confused the two elements, or else dreamed the mass return of the dead in his own right. It will be recalled that the transcontinental railroad was completed in May 1869, the year in which Wodziwob is supposed to have begun his prophecies. 9. For comparable performance see section “The 1890 Ghost Dance” in part 3 (p. 116). 10. This delayed advent was also reported above by Henry Williams. The farther the doctrine was removed in time and space from its Paviotso source, the more immediate became the expected advent. 11. This indicates either that the informant was confused and contradictory or that Wodziwob accepted the idea that Weneyuga had attributed to him. 12. Informant denied that Paviotso ever buried drinking utensils with their dead. 13. Terrestrial catastrophes are also favorite topics in shamans’ discourses, at least in northern California. Apparently, this element was amalgamated and maximized in the Ghost Dance doctrine of north-central California. The various “worlds” in the mythology of the area provide a native pattern that could easily be dovetailed with Christian ideas concerning the end of the world and the resurrection. 14. Further descriptions of the Beatty affair are given by Modoc informants in the section on Klamath Reservation. 15. Gayton,“Ghost Dance of 1870,” 60. 16. Mooney,“Ghost Dance Religion,” 809. 17. W. Z. Park,“Paviotso Shamanism,” aa 36 (1934): 104. 18. Cf. five-night dance among Klamath Reservation Paviotso and subsequent account of Reno dance by Dick Dowington. 19. Park,“Paviotso Shamanism,” 105. 20. Leslie Spier, “Ghost Dance of 1870 among the Klamath of Oregon,” University of Washington Publications in Anthropology 2 (1927): 39–56. notes to pages 9–19 337 21. Cf. Paviotso delegation from Surprise Valley and the various delegations that visited Jack Wilson in the 1890 Ghost Dance. 22. Refers doubtless to Modoc custom of cremation. The Klamath believed that the ashes of the dead revivified the soil. See Leslie Spier, “Klamath Ethnography ,” uc-paae 30 (1930): 101. 23. This same device was used on the lava beds during the Modoc War (1872– 1873) at the recommendation of Curly Haired Doctor to prevent the white troops from surprising them. 24. This approximates Wodziwob’s vision...