Have you ever been to a Pow Wow?

Saturday March 9, 2013
Site 20, Blue Spring State Park
Orange City, Florida

 

 

 

Today we get together with one of my commenters and fellow blogger Paula and her daughter Olivia.  Paula’s blog is Our Year Outdoors.   In it she, her husband, and daughter are visiting all of Florida’s state parks, one at a time.  She’s is a great ambassador for the parks.  I’ve learned a lot about the parks from her. 

 

 

 

It is actually Olivia who tells her mother, who tells us about the Pow Wow just down the road a few miles in DeLand.  We are lovers of Pow Wows and go to them every time we get a chance so we jump at this unexpected opportunity.

 

 

 

 

 

Native American Pow Wows are held all over the country by various Native groups and tribes as a way to reinforce and share their culture and traditions.   It is a time for community, family, tradition, singing, dancing and socializing.

A Pow Wow can last a day, a week-end or a week.  It can be an afternoon or have 3 parts in each day.  This is the 9th annual DeLand Pow Wow and is held Friday through Sunday March 8, 9 and 10.

As soon as I enter the grounds, my senses are heightened. I can smell the sweetgrass and sage, hear the pulsing beat of the drum, the jingle of dresses and bells, see the brilliant colored regalia being worn by the dancers.    This is an atmosphere I have genuinely come to love.  Pow Wows make me happy.  That these people have endured so much and yet continue to celebrate their tradition and the country which openly practiced genocide against them is a serious reason for hope for us all.

 

Much of the tradition including the burning of herbs, the types of dances and regalia has come down from the Plains Indians of the 19th Century.    I have found that Pow Wows have an organization and ceremony which seems to be similar no matter where in the country you attend one.

A pow-wow is normally set up as a series of large concentric circles. The center circle is the dance arena, outside of which is a circle consisting of the Master of Ceremonies table, drum groups, and sitting areas for dancers and their families. This 2nd tier circle is often covered by either a committee built arbor, or each group will provide their own sun shade. Beyond these two circles for participants is often an area for spectators, and  outside of all is the ring of vendor's booths, where one can buy supplies, food, or arts and crafts items.

We arrive just after 11 so the first thing we do is walk the outer circle of vendors to see the educational exhibits, the regalia supplies, jewelry and other craft items for sale. 

 

 

 

Olivia visits the demonstration area where she plants pumpkin seeds to take home and plant in her garden.  Normally this area has the ‘three sisters seeds’ corn, squash and beans but perhaps yesterday was a big day for hands on and the corn and beans are gone.  Beans would grow up the corn stalks and squash shade the ground around the corn roots.

 

As we walk along we can hear and feel the pulsing of the drum. 

The master of ceremonies, or MC, is the voice of the pow-wow. It is his job to keep the singers, dancers, and general public informed as to what is happening. The MC sets the schedule of events, and maintains the drum rotation of when each drum group gets to sing. The MC is also responsible for filling any dead air time that may occur during the pow-wow, often with bad jokes. The MC often runs any raffles or other contests that may happen during the pow-wow.

 

Each Pow Wow has a Head Man Dancer and A Head Woman Dancer.  They are responsible for leading the other dancers during a song, and often dancers will not enter the circle unless the head dancers are already out dancing. The head dancers also lead the other dancers in the grand entry which is the parade of dancers that opens a pow-wow.

 

 

 

 

The Host Drum of the pow-wow is a drum group responsible for providing music for the dancers to dance to. At an Intertribal pow-wow like this one which lasts 3 days there are often two or more drums hired to be the host drums. Sometimes there are visiting drums as well.   Each drum is a group of 5+ drummers and has a Lead Singer who runs his drum and leads his singers while singing. Host drums are responsible for singing the songs at the beginning and end of a pow-wow session, generally a starting song, the grand entry song, a flag song, and a veterans or victory song to start the pow-wow, and a flag song, retreat song and closing song to end the pow-wow.

This Pow Wow begins at 10:00 all three days and the last event begins at 7:30 on Friday and Saturday and at 4:00 on Sunday.  All of the times are approximate as things run more of less on schedule.  This is sometimes known as Indian time.

The first morning session of drumming and dancing is playing when we arrive.  They play and sing from 10:00 to noon when they break for lunch.  The second session begins at 1:00 and opens with the Grand Entry during which all the dancers line up by dance style and age, then enter the sacred circle single file while one of the host drums sings a special song. Normally, the first in are veterans carrying flags and the traditional eagle staffs, followed by the head dancers.  Then the dancers follow in a specific order:

 

First are the Men's Traditional dancers - protectors and preservers of the traditional ways; with their double eagle feather bustles and their high kicking steps. Next are the Men's Fancy dancers, recognized by their colorful regalia. The Men's Grass dancers with their striking outfits covered with long, colorful fringes follow. Their dance movements are a sliding, shaking, and spinning motion, similar to long grass blowing in the wind. Teens, Juniors and Tiny tots follow in their respective categories.

 

 

 

 

 

Following the male dancers are the Women's Traditional dancers, who dance in a stately and poised manner, moving slowly and gracefully to the beat of the drum, dressed in elaborately decorated regalia with Eagle plumes worn on the back of the head and an Eagle fan in the right hand.

 

Next are the Women's Fancy dancers, whose long, graceful fringed shawls are draped over the shoulders. Their twirling rapid dance steps compliment the flaring shawls.

 

 

The Women's Jingle dancers follow.   Originally from the Ojibwe Nation, this dance is recognized as a healing dance. The dress is covered with tin cones (made from snuff tin covers) and bouncy dance steps create rhythmic jingling in time of the beat of the drum. Again, teens, juniors and tiny tots follow in their respective categories.

Following the Grand Entry, the MC will invite a respected member of the community to give an invocation. The host drum that did not sing the Grand Entry song will then sing a Flag Song, followed by a Victory or Veterans' Song, during which the flags and staffs are posted at the MC's table.

 

The dancing then begins with the MC asking the various drums to play for specific dancers. 

Most of the various types of dances performed at a pow-wow are descended from the dances of the Plains tribes of Canada and the United States. Besides those for the opening and closing of a pow-wow session, the most common is the intertribal, where a drum will sing a song and anyone who wants to can come and dance. An intertribal is the only dance where all members of the audience are welcomed into the sacred circle.

 

 

 

In addition to the dances, contest dances for a particular style and age group are often held, with the top winners receiving a cash prize. To compete in a contest the dancer must be in an outfit appropriate for the competition.   As far as I could tell, there were no contests held at the DeLand Pow Wow.

The modern day Pow Wow bases itself on the fundamental values common to Native Americans throughout North America: honor, respect, tradition, and generosity. 

Along with their families, thousands of singers, dancers, artists, and craftspeople follow the "Pow Wow Trail" all over the continent to share and celebrate their culture.

 

The festivities here break again for dinner at 5:00.  We have an Indian Taco, which is normally made of buffalo meat on flat fry bread topped with lettuce tomato sour cream, the usual tostada sorts of things.  It is delicious.  Fry Bread is wonderful.   The Pow Wow will resume at 7:00 with the Grand Entry followed by Exhibition Dancing.  Tonight there is an Aztec Fire Dancer.  It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a Pow Wow, they are much more common in the west.  So I didn’t remember that I should have come later in the afternoon so I’d be willing to stay and wait for the fire dancer.  He needs it to be dark so with the time switch he won’t come on until after 8:00.  Sure wish I’d known he would be here.  Sorry no pictures of the exhibition dancing.

If you’ve ever been to a Native American Pow Wow, I hope you’ll comment about your experience.  I’d love to know of other Pow Wows people have enjoyed.  I need them on my list of places to go.

 

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