What the record shows
The Ghost Dance was a religious movement that spread across much of the western United States in 1889 and 1890. It is generally associated with Wovoka, a Northern Paiute man from Nevada, whose teachings were carried by delegates to many nations. It is not a long-standing Apache ceremony, and Apache groups as a whole did not adopt it. A few Apache individuals and communities had some contact with the movement, mostly on the Southern Plains, and sources differ on how far that went. This article explains the movement, the Apache response, and how it differs from ceremonies that really are part of Apache life.
The movement in brief
Wovoka’s message, as it is usually summarized by historians, combined prayer, a round dance and a hope for renewal and peace at a time of severe loss. Native nations had been confined to reservations, food supplies were unreliable, and communities were facing disease and pressure to abandon their ways of life. Followers danced in circles over several days. Different nations understood and adapted the teachings in their own ways, so there was no single uniform “Ghost Dance religion.”
US officials and settlers often viewed the dances with alarm. The movement is most tragically linked with the Lakota in 1890, when fears surrounding the dancing contributed to the events that ended in the killing of many Lakota people at Wounded Knee in December. That history belongs to the Plains and is a reminder that the movement should not be treated as a curiosity.
Where Apache communities stand
The Apache nations lived in different circumstances in 1889 and 1890. The Western Apache were on reservations in Arizona, and the Chiricahua were held as prisoners of war after 1886, separated from their homelands and held in Alabama at that time. Mescalero and Jicarilla people lived on reservations in New Mexico. The Plains Apache, once known as the Kiowa Apache, lived in the area of present-day Oklahoma alongside the Kiowa and Comanche, and it is among the Southern Plains peoples that the Ghost Dance attracted the most documented attention. Accounts say that some Plains Apache people took part, but sources vary and the extent should not be overstated.
For most Apache communities, the usual summary in the literature is that the Ghost Dance did not become a major part of ceremonial life. The movement spread chiefly through connections between Plains and Great Basin nations, and many Southwestern groups had little direct connection to it. Any claim that “the Apache did the Ghost Dance” simplifies a varied picture.
A separate Western Apache prophet movement
It is easy to blur the Ghost Dance with another event. In 1881, a Western Apache religious leader at Cibecue, in Arizona, drew followers to dances that were interpreted by Army officers as a threat. A confrontation at Cibecue Creek followed, in which he was killed and some Apache scouts turned on the soldiers. This took place nearly a decade before the Ghost Dance, was rooted in local Western Apache circumstances, and is a different story. It is considered in the article on the Cibecue Creek incident, and mentioning it here is only to show that the two should not be merged.
Not the Mountain Spirit dances
The most common mix-up is with the dances of the Mountain Spirits, called Gaan in several Apache languages and often called Crown Dancers in English. These belong to Western Apache, Chiricahua and Mescalero communities, and they are not connected to Wovoka’s movement. They are part of older, locally rooted traditions and are discussed in public sources as a recognizable form of Apache ceremonial dance. Their meaning and manner belong to the communities who hold them, and this site does not describe them in detail.
In short:
- The Ghost Dance was a pan-tribal movement of 1889 and 1890, associated with Wovoka, and largely a Plains and Great Basin phenomenon.
- Mountain Spirit dances are Apache traditions with their own histories, held in some Apache communities.
- The two have different origins, purposes and communities.
Why the label sticks
Popular films and books about the “Wild West” often show a generic Native “ghost dance” regardless of nation. Some Apache-themed web pages repeat the idea because it looks plausible. Treating it as Apache is a case of the media stereotypes that flatten very different peoples into one picture.
Takeaways
The Ghost Dance matters in American history, and its connection to Wounded Knee makes it a serious subject. For Apache history, though, it is a footnote at most, because most Apache groups did not take it up. Readers interested in actual Apache ceremonial life are better served by the nations’ own cultural centers and official websites, which explain what they choose to share and update their information over time.