Kam Lau Nightchase To Discuss The Ghost Dance
Kam Lau Nightchase and Mike Masterson (leader of the Beaver Clan) will speak on Friday, April 8th about the history of the sacred Lakota Ghost Dance and the birth of the Sprit Dance.
Bend, OR (PRWEB) March 16, 2005 -- Kam Lau Nightchase is a recognized teacher
of the spiritual tradition of the Lakota as well as Sun Dance Chief who has been
a Sun Dancer for 23 years. He is a direct descendent of a long linage of
renowned Lakota chiefs. Kam has traveled the world sharing his medicine and
teachings
A Brief History of the Ghost Dance:
The Ghost dance as we
know it today started about the Mid. 1800’s. Tavibo (white man) a Native
American of the Paiute people emerged among them around 1869 as a prophet and
visionary. Tavibo had gone into the mountains and had a vision in which he was
told that the Paiute situation would relieved by an earthquake. The earth would
open up and consume the white people. By most accounts he died in 1870, he left
a son named Wovoka (the cutter) who was about 14 years of age.
The
turning point in Wovoka’s life came in late December of 1888 when Wovoka was
suffering from scarlet fever. He went into a coma for a period of two days. One
observer said “his body was stiff as a board.” On Sunday January 1, 1889 he sat
straight up in bed and announced he had a vision, this corresponded with a total
eclipse of the sun. The Paiute people credited him with bringing back the sun.
Wovoka was already respected for his command of the weather.
His vision
of the Ghost Dance brought native people from far and wide to hear his message
he spoke of honesty, the importance of hard work, nonviolence and of interracial
harmony.
The most dynamic evidence of Wovoka’s impact was with the
Lakota people. Short Bull and Kicking Bear returned from Nevada with Ghost Dance
shirts, which would make warriors invulnerable to injury. Sitting Bull was well
as others accepted this assurance.
This set up the slaughter at Wounded
Knee. Sitting Bull was killed on December 15, 1890, than on December 29, 470
soldiers confronted a seriously ill Big Foot and his people on their way to
surrender. Over 290 Native Americans many of them women and children were
killed. Many people said Wovoka and the Ghost dance faded away in the years
after Wounded Knee. In fact Wovoka was highly revered until his death on
September 29, 1932.
Kam and Mike will be discussing The Ghost Dance the
history and how it relates to the Sprit Dance at Central Oregon Community
College on Friday, April 8th starting at 7 PM. To find more visit: www.TheBeaverClan.com or
contact Mike at 541-617-9667
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/3/prweb218138.htm