Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest

Song of the Ghost Dance

Pai Ute (Kern River, Cal.)

               The snow lies there—ro-rani!
               The snow lies there—ro-rani!
               The snow lies there—ro-rani!
               The snow lies there—ro-rani!
                    The Milky Way lies there.
                    The Milky Way lies there.

"This is one of the favorite songs of the Paiute Ghost dance.... It must be remembered that the dance is held in the open air at night, with the stars shining down on the wide-extending plain walled in by the giant Sierras, fringed at the base with dark pines, and with their peaks white with eternal snows. Under such circumstances this song of the snow lying white upon the mountains, and the Milky Way stretching across the clear sky, brings up to the Paiute the same patriotic home love that comes from lyrics of singing birds and leafy trees and still waters to the people of more favored regions.... The Milky Way is the road of the dead to the spirit world."