Powwows bring traditions to new age of Indians
Two middle-aged dignitaries solemnly
lead the grand entry procession from
the east into the dancing circle. Fol
lowing behind them were about 60 Indians,
adorned in a variety of colorful and dazzling
dancing costumes highlighted by feathers,
bells and beads.
A group of six men were seated around a
large drum in the middle of the dancing circle.
Working together at the big drum, they
pounded out a heavy beat, slow and steady.
The procession leaders carried two flags —
one American, one Nebraskan — and the
dancers who followed moved deliberately
around the circle in time with the drum beat
Once all the dancers had entered the
circle, the men at the drum began to
chant and sing. Inspired by the music,
the dancers broke out of their somber mode and
began dancing free-style.
Individual dancers weaved throughout the
group, each sharing their personality, their
spirit, with the others. Although the dancers
seemed to move at random within the group,
there was an amazing non-order as the overall
group moved as one.
The sounds of the drum, the singing and
jingle of the bells worn by the dancers were
occasional! v punctuated by a yell, a sort of short
spirit cry. The dancers gave physical life to the
song.
All in one moment, the drum beat stopped
the singing stopped, the dancers stopped. A
brief prayer and the dancers broke up the circle
Indians keep their tribal culture and identit)
alive through powwow activities.
Before the dancing began, the organ iz
ers of the powwow “gave away” col
orful blankets to Indians who had
come to the powwow.
Helen Long Soldier, a Lakota Indian and
counselor at Multi-Cultural Affairs at the Uni
versity of Nebraska-Lincoln, said that “give
aways”arecommon when Indians get together.
“At almost any event, you’ll see someone
having a give away,” she said.
Give aways express respect and thanks,
Long Soldier said.
“It’s a way of showing respect for the people
who came to the powwow,” she said.
Long Soldier said non-Indians have diffi
culty understanding this, but Indians don’t
expect gifts on personally significant occasions
such as birthdays. Instead, large family gather
ings, such as powwows, are more common for
gift giving.
Tnat’s just one example of some of the
opposing cultural values held by Indians and
non-Indians.
The drum is fundamental to the powwow.
Not only does it provide the beat for the danc
ers, it is full of symbolism as well, Long Soldier
said.
1*^ or example, the drum sits at the center
( of the arena and the dancers move
around it. Long Soldier said the place
ment of the drum at the center of the arena is
symbolic of the drum being at the center of the
world. She said that the sound of the drum
represents a heartbeat.
The drum is also symbolic of the world
perspective of Indians, Long Soldier said.
“The drum is round,” she said. “We are a
circular people as opposed to a linear one.”
Philip Wright, elder of the drum for
Mazakutc, or “Iron Shooter,” a group of tradi
tional Indian musicians from Santee, said there
Ceremonial dancing is formal and con
sists of specific dance moves that tell
a story or have some social signifi
cance within the tribe. Long Soldier said.
“People usually have to go through some
kind of learning process to do it (ceremonial
dancing), she said. “It’s much more serious and
it usually has some religious significance.”
“It’s symbolic of something that is happen
ing or has happened,” Long Soldier said.
Social dancing is less formal, allows more
room for personal expression, and can be bro
ken down into four categories: traditional,
fancy, jingle dress and grass. Gilbert said the
“The drum is round. We are a circular people as
opposed to a linear one.,f
— Long Soldier
are t wo kinds of songs: tribal and intertribal. He
said tribal songs are sung in the traditional tribal
language, whereas intertribal songs are more
like chanting.
Wright said the drum and the songs are an
important part of keeping the tribal culture
alive. The drum is sacred to the Indian people
and is treated with respect, he said. For ex
ample, they offer a sacrifice of tobacco to the
drum before playing, he said.
The songs are important to the people be
cause they “lead towards prayer,” Wright said.
“The drum and the songs belong to the
people,” he said.
Long Soldier said Indian people believe a
song can't be owned.
“Certain people make songs, but they give
them to the people,” she said. “You can’t own
a song.”
Tong Soldier said the songs are impor
tant because they help Indians remem
A h<‘r f hr»ir hitilnrv anH mlfnrn TraHi.
tionalfy, Indians have an oral history instead of
a written one.
“The words of a song may describe an image
or tell a story,” she said.
Marcv Gilbert, member of the Lakota tribe
and a UNL sophomore home economics stu
dent, said dancing is another important way for
Indians to preserve their culture.
“Among our people, dancing is to us what
the Olympics is to the white world,” she said.
“It’s like bonding — it keeps you in contact
with each other.
There’s one more reason to dance at a
powwow, Gilbert said.
“It’s a lot of fun,” she said. “I grew up with
it.”
Gilbert said there are two types of Indian
dancing: ceremonial and social.
type of costume worn by the dancer distin
guishes the category of the dance.
Most dancers take pride in making their own
cosuimes, Gilbert said.
“If you sit down and bead every day, you can
make one (a costume) in two months,” she said.
“It’s the beadwork that takes the longest.”
David Esau, an 18-year-old Omaha Indian,
has been dancing for five years. He said learn
ing to dance is a life-long activity.
“It takes a lot of years to learn how to sing or
dance,” he said. “My dad’s 42, and he’s still
learning.”
Many powwows sponsor a dancing contest,
giving cash awards to the. best dancer. The
contest is broken down by sex of the dancer, age
of the dancer, and style of the dance.
Jason Sperry, a 14-year-old Cherokee
Indian from Broken Arrow, said it’s
an honor to win a dance contest,
ii tells people that you were the best dancer
that night, he said. “The person who came in
second that you beat that night might beat you I
next time.
Long Soldier said putting on a powwow is
expensive, especially in an urban area. More
and more people charge nominal fees to help
defray the costs of putting on a powwow, she
said..
“The more spread out Indians get, the more
people will have to charge for powwows,” she
said. “The atmosphere is the same though.”
The word powwow is nota real Indian word,
Long Soldier said. She said people have many
ideas about where the word came from.
“Some think it is from the sound of the drum,
some think it is a distortion of some other word,
some think it comes from the French word
“parler” or “meet,” she said. “Some think it
came from Hollywood.”
But the Indians are happy to use the word,
she said. It’s a word they all understand.