Wovoka's own people, the Paiutes, became devoted adherents. He organized dances in the surrounding area and word spread quickly to more distant areas. As a result the Ghost Dance religion took root in practically every Western tribe (the Sun Dance, another example of vision enactment, can also be traced to the Ghost Dance—see reference 5). The religion shaped the mythology of each tribe, and embellishments were added by each adherent.

The representatives who were sent from many tribes came to pay homage to Wovoka and to listen to his sermons. He taught them the movements of the Ghost Dance and gave them sacred red paint and two eagle feathers to take back with them for use in their own performances. In the spring of 1890 the second delegation returned to Black Elk's people, who then agreed to perform the prescribed Ghost Dance.

The trance was the most important feature of the ritual. It was brought about by a kind of hypnotic spell. The leader would notice one of the dancers who seemed to be losing consciousness. With skillfull movement of his hands and a feather, he would lead the dancer into a trance. The dancer would stagger, become rigid, and fall into unconsciousness. It was during the trance that visions occurred.

Trance experiences were the cause of an amazing cultural revival among many of the reservation tribes of the late nineteenth century who practiced the Ghost Dance. As a result of encountering ancestors in their traditional settings within the trance (in seeing the old campgrounds, in playing the old games, in eating the buffalo meat—all experiences which were lost during the reservation days), native Americans were once more brought in touch with their traditional culture, which would have been lost altogether had the breach with the unconscious not been restored through the Ghost Dance.

Dream Dance

One more native American ritual performance which will be examined in this context is the Dream Dance of the Chippewa and the Menominee tribes. It was studied and recorded for the Milwaukee Public Museum and published in 1911 by S.A. Barrett, a Wisconsin ethnographer (see references 1 and 10).

As was the case with the other two rituals, the Dream Dance originated in response to a vision. Barrett writes that the Chippewa and the Menominee were certain of neither the place not the exact date of origin, but the story is that somewhere in Sioux  country around  1880 to  1890  a young