Damhsa na dTaibhsí

Publication Instance Details #2412

Publication Overview

Translation	Is Multilingual	Explicit Irish Context?	Ekphrasis	Has Paratext?	Reference to News, Media or Technology
No	No	No	No	No	No

Details

Human Rights Issues	HR & Colonisation/Colonial Legacies Genocide Indigenous Rights (incl. culture & language)
War / Genocide Referenced	Genocide: Genocide of indigenous people in USA (pre 20th century)
Languages	Irish
Genre	Short Lyric
Medium	Print Collection
Notes	This poem details the events of the Wounded Knee Massacre, of December 29, 1890. The events in the lead-up to the massacre had been set into motion by settler's desire to quash the Sioux's 'Ghost Dance' cult and force them to align more to Christian, settler values. The massacre occurred when captured Lakota Sioux began to dance the 'Ghost Dance'. The army became intimidated, and when a gun accidentally fired, a massacre began with the slaughter of between 150-300 Lakota. The speaker of the poem highlights the brutality of the massacre by not actually showing it. The Ghost dance is described in the first verse, and then in the second verse, the aftermath of the events is shown, with all of the dancers lying dead.