Photographs by James Mooney who photographed Ghost Dancers for the Smithsonian, 1896. View photography at the Wm. Hammond Mathers Museum.
Ghost Dancers
So that you may see the visions of our past
Hear my cry
Hallowed in the earth
See my face
Painted in the walking soul of you
We danced with you before the killing
I am dancing for you
So that you may feel the walking of the present
Hear my roar
Given in a warrior�s cry
Feel my coming
In the prayers of your day
We danced with you in the dying
I will dance for you
So that you may know the journey of tomorrow
Hear my yearning
Whispered in Mother�s birthing of us
Smell the smoldering ashes of death
In the waking of our children
We dance for you in the resurrection
We dance for you
Feel the rhythm of you
We
Are you
Sbec
April 2000
THE FATHER COMES SINGING
There is the father coming,
There is the father coming.
The father says this as he comes,
The father says this as he comes,
"You shall live," he says as he comes,
"You shall live," 'he says as he comes.
This Sioux ghost shirt, on display in a Scottish museum, was returned to tribal officials in South Dakota in June 1999. The shirt is believed to have been worn by a victim of the December 1890 Wounded Knee massacre.