My second Pow Wow

I would say that I have now attended my first Pow Wow but apparently my parents took me to one when I was about 6 months old in New York City. (I know, a Pow Wow in NYC… things never cease to amaze me) This was a gathering of the Lakota from around South Dakota. The Lakota are originally a part of the Sioux tribe but have worked hard to create their own identity and don’t like to be called Sioux. My mother had to set up a booth for the Sanford lab and thought I would be interested in tagging along. I have always had a fascination with all things Native American and jumped at the chance.

The Pow Wow was being held in the gym at Black Hills State University on their indoor track field. There were benches set up in a large oval and circles of folding chairs placed around the space. As we were setting up the booth, the tribal medicine man began his blessing. He burnt sage, blessed all the people working and made sure that the space was free of evil spirits.

I don’t want to go into too much detail about the actual ceremony because I do believe that is something sacred. I took very few pictures because I felt that I was intruding into a world in which I didn’t belong. The traditional dress was absolutely beautiful. There were different outfits for each dance that they performed. It must have taken a lot of time and money to make such gorgeous dress. The women’s dance actually reminded me of Irish and Scottish dance. A lot of bouncing up and down.

What really moved me was the sense of family and community. Some families had four generations in traditional dress on the floor for the inter generational dance. And it wasn’t just the family members that watched out for the little ones, (who seemed to have their reign of the dance floor) it was the entire tribe. I am really glad that I got to see and sense that spirit within the Native American community. My mother commented on something that I had been thinking the entire night….. So this is how they found a mate when they were spread out all across the northern plains.