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Pow Wow |
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| FTLComm - Tisdale - May 22, 2001 |
 I attended my first Pow Wow at the White Bear in the summer of 1966. Joe Ewalk invited me and it was a revelation. The drums, the singing, the flicker of dancers performing around an open fire. It was raw, it was exotic and it was not a fantasy. Joe was a remarkable dancer and had he not come over to ease the fears of my date's twelve year old sister, I am not sure just |
 how we would have handled the trembling terrified girl. But Joe, covered in ferocious make-up and wearing a magnificent chicken dance outfit, assured her that she was safe and all was well. She responded to his warm voice and the spirit of the evening was lightened a little but the edge was there. The phenomena of Pow Wows has grown considerably since then largely prompted by Western United States bands who seen these huge get togethers as a means of reviving their culture but also celebrating their difference. |
 The Pow Wows of today are extra ordinary commercial events. Performers travel all across the continent to perform for prize money and tourists, Indian and Non-indian alike, come out in droves to see the spectacle. At the bottom of this page are a series of sites I suggest to take a look at that will tell about the competition categories and tell of the locations. But understand that Pow Wow are a contemporary form of show business Certainly the dances, the "banging and yelling" (my term for the accompaniment) and the basis for the costumes themselves are based in tradition, but you must also remember that the people of North America are an extremely diverse lot and the format of the Pow Wow homogenises the difference to blend into a growing present day culture. Kevin and Debbie Thomas were on their way home to Leoville Monday afternoon after having spent the weekend at the Pas Pow Wow. We spotted their trailers at the 7-11 and stopped to photograph them and talk to them about the artwork. Their company Cree Nation Consulting and Four Seasons Catering (306 984 4444) |
| specialises in providing concessions for Pow Wows and this explains the fabulously decorated trailer you see on this page. Kevin explained that they had been to an event in Arizona and that lead them to put the desert artwork on the right hand side of the trailer. |
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 The images on the trailer depict many of the dance categories and the one at the top of the page shows a typical "fancy dress" performer. Kevin explain to me that they had a pretty good idea of what they wanted on the trailer when they went to the artist to create this moving advertisement of North American contemporary culture. Sociologists are now becoming increasingly convinced that substance addiction in any group of people is the result of the loss of the individual's loss of culture. Without something to build their lives upon, people seek chemicals of any kind to fill their otherwise empty lives. Individuals with a strong sense of their heritage and cultural traditions, rarely become addicted. When you consider this |
| realisation the advent of Pow Wow dancing is one of the many forms of emerging culture
that can elevate and change the lives of an aboriginal person. In many of Saskatchewan's
Metis communities the square dance tradition of the fur traders lives on and those
who become involved in dancing groups are almost assured of having a positive life
experience and will have little trouble with drugs and alcohol because they have
found themselves in their culture. It is so important to discover that culture is not something of the past, but must be something of the present and it also must be something that is living and developing. The culture that revolves around Pow Wows is bold, dramatic and filled with personal and cultural pride. Not only does this evolving culture have historical roots, but it also has its own traditions of this day. Drugs and Alcohol are strictly forbidden as part of a Pow Wow, both the one I attended in 1966 and the ones of today. They are celebrations of awareness and swagger with the pride of self esteem. In time I suspect the rituals and spiritualism that once were associated with dance and cultural celebration will return, perhaps in a new way, but for certain these elements, will assert themselves once more. I opened this story today with a story from the White Beat, to let you in on the emotions and the feelings that come from dance and performance of this type, because I want you to understand that these elements are fundamental and intrinsically part of the culture and this recreation of parts of that culture. One Canada's West Coast traditions, the Potlatch ceremonies, are a continuing tradition of using dance, drama and music to retell and reestablish traditions tens of thousands of years old. The West Coast people are often less than charitable when considering other cultures, especially the immature cultures of Western Europe, but they hold the Pow Wow traditions with great respect as they see this as a kind of mass form of cultural re-awakening. |
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| Some sites that tell more about Pow Wows: |
Helena Begaii Arizona a Dine' web site on Pow Wows |