The Ghost Dance of Weloy
Last Friday night, after dark, the final day of the three-day celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Yap Day, the Ghost Dance was performed by more than 50 Weloy men and boys in a long line. It was last performed several years ago. The day after the nighttime performance, they performed it once more. Called a "hanging dance" since it is being "hung up" and will not be performed again for some time, the entire community turned out to see it. It's the most exciting, exacting, complex and emotional dance I have seen since arriving in Yap. An American woman who has been here since 1962 said this was only the third time she had seen it due to the rarity of its performance. A Yapese man said he had not seen the dance since 1970. The Yapese do not use any musical instruments to accompany the dances. Instead, hand, arm and thigh clapping sets up the rhythm and chant. It is danced in sections and, after each section, the dancers stop to rest for a minute or less and the audience and cheers. The dancers practiced for five weeks, maybe more, three hours a day, five days a week to achieve the perfection needed. How fortunate I was to be in the audience for both performances.
The attached video shows a small portion of the Ghost Dance and was made by Yap resident Anthony C. Tareg, Jr. the following day after the nighttime performance when it was performed one more time as the “hanging dance.” When a dance is “hung up” it is being put away and not danced again for some time. The photos are mine.
A Yapese man in the village of Akaw, Weloy was inflicted with leprosy. To prevent the spread of the disease, the villagers built a shelter for him high up on a hill outside the village and provided the man with his daily meals. As his disease got worse, the man started hallucinating and thought he was seeing people passing by for a dance practice. One night as he was sleeping he “saw” the same people again. He asked if he could join their dance practice. They agreed and so he practiced with them until he learned the dance as well. When his family came to bring him food he asked them to bring his traditional dancing clothes. His relatives were alarmed. They thought he was losing his grip on reality. But he insisted and finally one of the family members agreed to bring his thuw, hibiscus, lava lava and dancing leis. That night when the dancing people came he was dressed in his best traditional clothes. They danced through the night and when the sun came up the next morning the sick man noticed all the dancers had disappeared. He was alone, hanging on a branch in the largest banyan tree on island. He began shouting for help. People from his village heard him and came running. They were shocked to find the sick man in his dance clothes hanging in the tree. They were even more shocked to see that the sick man’s sores were gone and he seemed well again. As they helped him down from the tree he began telling the villagers about the dancers who visited him at night. Back in the village, he taught the villagers the dance before he forgot it.
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOUASAZjlCQ&feature=youtu.be
The attached video shows a small portion of the Ghost Dance and was made by Yap resident Anthony C. Tareg, Jr. the following day after the nighttime performance when it was performed one more time as the “hanging dance.” When a dance is “hung up” it is being put away and not danced again for some time. The photos are mine.
Legend of the Ghost Dance
A Yapese man in the village of Akaw, Weloy was inflicted with leprosy. To prevent the spread of the disease, the villagers built a shelter for him high up on a hill outside the village and provided the man with his daily meals. As his disease got worse, the man started hallucinating and thought he was seeing people passing by for a dance practice. One night as he was sleeping he “saw” the same people again. He asked if he could join their dance practice. They agreed and so he practiced with them until he learned the dance as well. When his family came to bring him food he asked them to bring his traditional dancing clothes. His relatives were alarmed. They thought he was losing his grip on reality. But he insisted and finally one of the family members agreed to bring his thuw, hibiscus, lava lava and dancing leis. That night when the dancing people came he was dressed in his best traditional clothes. They danced through the night and when the sun came up the next morning the sick man noticed all the dancers had disappeared. He was alone, hanging on a branch in the largest banyan tree on island. He began shouting for help. People from his village heard him and came running. They were shocked to find the sick man in his dance clothes hanging in the tree. They were even more shocked to see that the sick man’s sores were gone and he seemed well again. As they helped him down from the tree he began telling the villagers about the dancers who visited him at night. Back in the village, he taught the villagers the dance before he forgot it.
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOUASAZjlCQ&feature=youtu.be
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