Powwow
Powwows are the Native American people's way of meeting together, to join in dancing, singing, and renewing old friendships and making new ones. It is a time of renewal and remembrance.
Drums and singers are essential to the Powwow. Without them there would be no dancing. The songs that are sung range in topic from religious, to war, to social.
When different tribes gather together, they would share their songs, and often changing the songs so that singers of different tribes could join in. With these changes came the use of "vocables" to replace the words of old songs. Thus, some songs today are sung in "vocables" with no words.
The dancers dress according to the type of dance that they want to participate in......traditional dance, social dance, or fancy dance. The traditional way is the most conservative looking, while the fancy dance reflects the dancer's full creative imagination.
In summary, it is all about remembering the past in order to shape the future with heritage, culture and a reverence for Life at the center of this celebration. At this Powwow, I witnessed great friendship, much laughter and happiness, and great generosity through gift-giving. It was truly a joyous festival.
Thank you for looking.
