Wovoka, also known as Jack Wilson, was the Paiute religious leader who founded a second episode of the Ghost Dance movement. Wovoka means "cutter" or "wood cutter" in the Northern Paiute language.
Wovoka – Paiute spiritual leader and creator of the Ghost Dance
The Ghost Dance is a ceremony incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems. According to the teachings of the Northern Paiute spiritual leader Wovoka, proper practice of the dance would reunite the living with spirits of the dead, bring the spirits to fight on their behalf, end American Westward expansion, and bring peace, prosperity, and unity to Native American peoples throughout the region.
Cyperus esculentus, a root that the Northern Paiutes used to eat
Wovoka–Northern Paiute spiritual leader and creator of the Ghost Dance
An Arapaho buckskin ghost shirt, ca 1890