Pow Wow’s Are Back

DECOLONIZING YOUR NEWSFEED

Jingle dress dancer Adrianna Jolene Douglas (Mohawk/Six Nations) at the Unite the People Spring Pow Wow held in Scissortail Park, Oklahoma City, OK on Memorial Day Weekend 2021. Photo: Mike Griffin (Comanche)

POWWOW’S ARE BACK | 6.12.21

As someone whose job it is to monitor the news, it was hard not to notice the wave of happy headlines, this week. One subhed from the Philadelphia Inquirer didn’t overthink things when writing about what is perhaps one of the best stories so far this year: "people are out and about, enjoying even simple things they have missed for so long."

That certainly is the case across Indian Country. But I wouldn’t call the annual powwow “simple.” Growing up, I remember my mom joining a committee to help organize one in Claremore, Oklahoma, a suburb of Tulsa, and it just seemed like a lot of work because it was. That’s what it takes to pull off a good one and in Oklahoma, there are a lot of them.

Home to 39 federally recognized Native nations, Oklahoma is powwow central across Indian Country. On any given weekend there’s likely to be one social gathering or another. Some are small and in honor of certain causes, others are big events that have so much recognition, people mark their calendars and plan around it all year.

The Red Earth PowWow in Shawnee, OK is one of them. It’s legendary, at least in my mind. While not the largest or even the longest-running, it has a reputation for some of the fiercest fancy dancing perhaps found anywhere. After all, the free-style routine is believed to have been born in Oklahoma by a young Ponca, Gus McDonald, sometime in the early 1920s (pictured right).

Action-packed and brilliantly outfitted, I grew up holding great respect for fancy dancers because they were revered by so many, and not just by Natives. A lot of white folks have also historically fawned over these special performers because, even as a spectator, you feel that all you can do is hang on. The dancing is that intense.

I naturally gravitate to the Red Earth PowWow as marking, unofficially, the start of the summer powwow circuit. It should be happening this weekend, but it’s not—a sign of how transitional things still are as communities nationwide are just beginning to lift limits on social distancing, and as re-connecting takes its course.

Little by little, though, these social gatherings that are like glue to Indian Country are making a comeback. One sign of this was a Memorial Day weekend powwow held in Oklahoma City. Comanche photographer Mike Griffin was there with his camera and was surprised at the turnout.

“I saw a lot of people seeing each other for the first time all year,” said Griffin who had attended another powwow in the region a weekend or so earlier. He described that event as “teeny-tiny” compared to the one at Scissortail Park, the Unite the People Powwow.

“It’s been a long, long year.”

He remarked on the number of Native elders that he knew were lost to Covid-19. During the grand entry, the beginning of the powwow featuring a parade of dancers, Griffin said the emcee took a moment to honor those that the virus took. “I’m just glad that we’re able to come together now,” he said. “It was depressing and very, very lonely without these dances.”

Check out Griffin’s Instagram feed for his lovely takes from Scissortail Park and to follow his powwow photography over the summer. Meanwhile, these links:

To find a powwow near you, head here (but tread this non-Native site carefully)
Why referring to your meeting as a “powwow” is offensive and six other no-no’s
My friend’s lovely short film about The Sweetheart Dancers; hetero-disruption
And KUNM’s Singing Wire which plays powwow music on Sunday afternoons

Another fun turn of events happening this weekend is live Native comedy happening here in Santa Fe at the VFW downtown. Even if some of the jokes fall a little flat, I can already tell it’s gonna be a good time. Can’t wait.

Enjoy the weekend, friends,

Jenni

THE INDIGENOUS INTERNET

@weediquette

INDIGENOUSLY INDEX

Total years the Narragansett Tribe lays claims to the oldest recorded powwow: 345

Total recommendations made to Interior Dept. to limit “Indian Dancing” in 1923: 6

Estimated number of Natives at “the Greatest Pow Wow of All Time” in 1926: 1600

Implied age of Gus McDonald in becoming the first World Champion Fancy Dancer: 26

Exact age of McDonald when he reportedly ended a fancy dance with a cartwheel: 75

Number of years McDonald attended the Carlisle Indian Industrial School: 2

Total years the Red Earth PowWow has taken place: 35

Number of powwows to be livestreamed before 2004 at Red Earth: 0

Average daily attendees at Red Earth in 2014, according to this top 10 powwow list: 8400

Estimated number of dancers at “North America’s Largest PowWow": 3000

Approximate number of attendees at the Gathering of Nations PowWow in 2019: 91K

Average total revenue the Gathering generates for host city, Albuquerque: $22M

Number of Miss Indian Worlds crowned at the Gathering of Nations PowWow: 37

Total years running for the largest Two-Spirit PowWow: 10

Price of an Indian Taco at Minneapolis’s PowWow Grounds: $7

ENDORSEMENT

There are plenty of reasons for Natives to hold distrust for government health agendas (I mean, remember that newsletter I wrote about forced sterilizations?) But getting the Covid-19 vaccine should not be one of them.

It’s true, more American Indians and Alaska Natives have been vaccinated more than any other demographic per capita according to the CDC—more than a million. But that means there are at least a million more who need to complete the circle.

As we all climb out of this pandemic together, whatever your background, please read up, locate a vaccine site, and do your part to ensure that Indigenous homelands are healthy and safe.

This message is brought to you by the US Department of Health and Human Services and vaccine.gov.

FEEDBACK

“If there is a Pulitzer for long-form inbox newsletters, Indigenously deserves strong consideration.”

Brian, Michigan

So, this was a humbling note to receive and one that I love knowing arrived on the eve of marking my one-year anniversary since launching Indigenously. Dawaa’e, thank you, Brian, for your kind, kind words.

This newsletter has come a long way from where it started a year ago, next week. Can’t wait to reflect and share more about what I’ve been working on from all that incubating and ruminating these past few months. That and more (including maybe another celebratory giveaway) in the next Indigenously. 🦋

QUOTE

The Indigenously newsletter is produced by Jenni Monet (Laguna Pueblo)