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Lakota / Ghost Dance

Short Bull: the earth will shiver at the end of this moon

The Ghost-dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890 (1896 print) · pp. 788–789; first two paragraphs of the sermon

Edition, transcription and reuse details

James Mooney, The Ghost-dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890, in Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1892–93, part 2 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1896). Internet Archive scan ghostdancesioux00moonrich, page images inspected: pp. 777–778, the paragraph “Different dates have been assigned” through “the sacred dance.”; pp. 788–789, the first two paragraphs of Short Bull’s sermon, from “My friends and relations” through “to do these things.” (Mooney’s source note: “Short Bull; War, 4”). Also compared with the Project Gutenberg transcription (ebook 74335). Line-end hyphenation joined; whitespace normalized.

Nineteenth-century publication, public domain in the United States. United States government publication.

My friends and relations: I will soon start this thing in running order. I have told you that this would come to pass in two seasons, but since the whites are interfering so much, I will advance the time from what my father above told me to do, so the time will be shorter. Therefore you must not be afraid of anything. Some of my relations have no ears, so I will have them blown away. Now, there will be a tree sprout up, and there all the members of our religion and the tribe must gather together. That will be the place where we will see our dead relations. But before this time we must dance the balance of this moon, at the end of which time the earth will shiver very hard. Whenever this thing occurs, I will start the wind to blow. We are the ones who will then see our fathers, mothers, and everybody. We, the tribe of Indians, are the ones who are living a sacred life. God, our father himself, has told and commanded and shown me to do these things.

On the timeline

1000 BCE01000150018001900200031 October 1890 · Pine Ridge, reported · Prophecy given or recorded · Short Bull’s sermon at Red Leaf campWithin a month of 31 October 1890 · end of this moon · Predicted date · Short Bull, 31 October 1890: the earth shivers at the end of this moon
  1. 31 October 1890 · Pine Ridge, reportedShort Bull’s sermon at Red Leaf camp Prophecy given or recorded
  2. Within a month of 31 October 1890 · end of this moonShort Bull, 31 October 1890: the earth shivers at the end of this moon Predicted date · stated 31 October 1890

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