The Peyote Way Church of God » Overview. WOVOKA: The Paiute Messiah. With these words, spoken by a Paiute rancher named Wovoka to describe a dream he experienced during a full eclipse on New Year's Day of 1889, the Native American Ghost Dance religion came into being. Few people, either Native or white, could have imagined the tragedy which would arise from this new faith within two years of this jolting statement.
But while the brief and bloody history of the Ghost Dance has been well documented, the story of its creator remains curiously elusive. Few people have had a more profound effect on Native American history as Wovoka, yet his story has nearly been lost to time. Lakota Peyote Healing Song.