12,286. RUDIMENTS. pt. 868

RUDIMENTS, pt. 868

(they come prancing) pt. two

The next morning they went

up close to the Messiah to

see if he had any of the scars

of crucifixion which the

missionaries on the reservation

had told them about. There

was a scar on his wrist, and

one on his face, but they could

not see his feet because he was

wearing moccasins. Throughout

the day he talked to them : In

the beginning, he said, God

made the earth and then sent

the Christ to earth to teach

the people, but white men had

treated him badly, leaving scars

on his body, and so he had gone

back to Heaven. Now he had

returned to earth as an Indian,

and was to renew everything

and make it better. In the next

Springtime, he told them, when

the grass was knee-high, the

earth would be covered with

new soil which would bury all

the white men and the new land

would be covered with sweet

grass and running water and

trees. Great herds of buffalo

and wild horses would come

back. The Indians who danced

the Ghost Dance would be taken

up in the air and suspended there

[I then immediately thought of the

strangeness of Chagall paintings]

while a wave of new earth was

passing, and then they would be

set down among the ghosts of

their ancestors on the new earth,

where only Indians would live.

-

After a few days at Walker Lake,

Kicking Bear and the others learned

their dance and they mounted their

horses to return to the railroad  -  as

they rode along, the Messiah flew

above them in the air, teaching

them songs for the new dance. At

the railroad he left them, telling

them to return to their people

and teach them what they had

learned. When the next Winter

was passed, he would bring the

ghosts of their fathers to meet

them in the new resurrection.

The dancing frenzy had spread  -

and the people of Kicking Bear,

and Short Bull, and Big Foot, and

others, were following the lead

of their chieftain in propagating

the dancing. They danced until

they fainted, because they wanted

to bring their dead warriors back. 

By early Autumn, (the Moon of the 

Falling Leaves), the official word

was: 'STOP the Ghost Dancing.'

-

In their fervor, Indians were

believing no harm could come to

them and bullets would not harm

them. White Hair McLauglin was

quoted, "A more pernicious system

of religion could not have been

offered to a people who stood on

the threshold of civilization.'

Although a practicing Catholic,

McLaughlin failed to realize the

Ghost Dance as being entirely

Christian. Except for its difference

in rituals, its tenets were the same

as any Christian church. The Messiah

had told them 'You must not hurt

anybody or do harm to anyone. You

must not fight. Do right always.'

Preaching non-violence and brotherly 

love, the doctrine called for no

action by the Indians except to

dance and sing. The Messiah would

bring the Resurrection. But because

the Indians were dancing, the agents

became alarmed, and notified the

soldiers, and the soldiers began the

march; which march eventually

ended in violence and ended the

entire Indian scenario. By the

end of the period, Sitting Bull

had been killed, as well as many

others, as violence begat violence.

One standout opponent was Dr.

Valentine McGillycuddy, a former

agent: "The coming of the troops

has frightened the Indians. If the 

Seventh-Day Adventists prepare

their ascension robes for the 

second coming of the Savior, The

US Army is not put in motion to

prevent them. Why should not

Indians have the same privilege?

If the troops remain, trouble

will follow."

-

I'll close this little sequence with 

the word of Black Elk, in his

old age: "I did not know how 

much was ended. When I look

back now from this high hill of

my old age, I can still see the

butchered women and children

lying heaped and scattered along

the crooked gulch as plain as

when I saw then with their eyes

still young. And I can see that

something else died there in the 

bloody mud, and was buried in

the blizzard. A people's dream

died there. It was a beautiful

dream.....the nation's hoop is

broken and scattered. There

is no center any longer, and

the sacred tree is dead."
-
No one has ever answered for
any of this stuff, and that 
always bothered me. It wasn't
that they were my people in any
way  -  nothing like that  -  but
in every other pose and stance, 
Americans of the 1960's, and other
times, and now too, always got
all up and righteous about their
'quests'  -  Freedom, Liberty, the
Right to be left alone, the free reign
of property rights, ownership,
fealty to no other, etc. Yeah,
big deal and right, sure. Every
damn holiday or parade there'd
be packs of them stand up to
spout and salute, sponsor and
go on and on about all that, and it
was all based on lies and deceit.
And there weren't any to ways
about it. I just got disgusted.
-
There were (are) a whole raft
of good books you can read on all
this, but you won't  -  and you won't
because no one else does. The whole
culture has been set up against
reflection; against any meditative 
qualities  -  except for listening to
the usual gas-bags hanging from
clotheslines, going on about their
shriveled nature. Here's where you
can start : 'Black Elk Speaks.' 'Bury
My Heart At Wounded Knee.' And
'Son of the Morning Star.'
-
Prancing They Come : 'See them
prancing. They come neighing, a
horse nation. See them prancing.
They come neighing, they come.'