Background
Wovoka was born in Smith Valley area southeast of Carson City, Nevada, around the year 1856.
Wovoka was born in Smith Valley area southeast of Carson City, Nevada, around the year 1856.
Wovoka means "cutter" or "wood cutter" in the Northern Paiute language. Quoitze Ow was his birth name. David Wilson was a devout Christian, and Wovoka learned Christian theology and Bible stories while living with him.
One of his chief sources of authority among Paiutes was his alleged ability to control the weather.
He was said to have caused a block of ice to fall out of the sky on a summer day, to be able to end drought with rain or snow, to light his pipe with the sun, and to form icicles in his hands. Wovoka claimed to have had a prophetic vision during the solar eclipse on January 1, 1889.
Wovoka"s vision entailed the resurrection of the Paiute dead and the removal of whites and their works from North America. Wovoka"s teachings spread quickly among many Native American peoples, notably the Lakota.
Wovoka died in Yerington on September 20, 1932 and is interred in the Paiute Cemetery in the town of Schurz, Nevada.