7/13/2019

What You Need To Know About Native American Pow Wows

By Rebecca Barnes


Everywhere you are situated in the world, you may have seen different ways of how people celebrate bigger events and bigger social gatherings. Many countries in the world celebrate holidays, festivals and the tradition of their ancestry. Have you ever thought about how other people celebrate their tribe? Perhaps, it could develop your curiosity. The celebration has always been a part of the culture of every tribe, ancestry, and customs. Today, the Native american pow wows have been a tradition among the Native American culture.

Celebrations like these are a way of maintaining and preserving the tribe. Like the powwow, it has served the purpose for the newer generation to still acquire and possess the rich heritage of American Indians. It is an effective way to get involve and be part of the culture through social gatherings, singing and dancing, and tribal activities. It has allowed the renewal of friendship and engaging in a new one. This also served as a method to renew their culture.

Through history as to how and when it started, there was never really an exact detail as to how it boomed just like that. People are left with no answers until today. The rise of powwow had helped people to be cured and healed with their certain illnesses through spiritual existence, as they believed. This is typically recognized during the summer and spring seasons.

It has started as a religious celebration for believers to acquire wisdom and to celebrate the creator, Wakan Tanka. However, it has mainly been changing over the years. Today, it is celebrated as a social gathering that includes competitions through dances, and religious acts are still performed. Perhaps, it did not deeply change its overall practice, but it only evolved and with additional activities that would be more engaging for more natives.

Healing will always be the highlight of every ceremony which is also associated with chants, dancing and singing, drum playing and a lot more. The younger generation is fortunate enough to still experience the beauty of this ceremonial situation. However, as not all can join every event, some powwows would offer their time to go around the country and look for potential people that would be willing to learn more about the heritage.

Apart from dancing, there are also singing activities that are mostly competition oriented. Performances are mostly related to religion, stories and the involvement of their culture. This celebration would usually last up to three days straight with several dancers and singers who would participate. This is attended by over one hundred thousand people who would watch, socialize and enjoy the festivities. This explains how this culture has been highly celebrated today.

Ceremonies would also include a dancing tradition that is associated with pleasing and attractive clothing. Such as the straight dance that has intricately tailored southern dance clothing. This reassures solidity, as everything looks matched and completely planned. There are also cloth dancing, fancy shawl dancing, fancy feather dancing, grass dancing, gourd dancing and jingle dancing. What makes these extraordinary is how they would tailor the clothing with complicated detailing. Each dress has its effect, objective and the differences in origins.

If you can compare how people would celebrate their culture today, perhaps you will be able to identify how western culture has influenced many countries today. The younger generation will never know how beautiful tribe ceremonies can be as this is not practiced in other places now. Tribes could showcase their dresses and heritage with so much pride, and for them, that is already enough to let people know that their origin and identity are rich as gold.

Perhaps, there could be several factors that have affected other cultures to die down. It is the preservation and determination that is lacking. When you commit to keeping and protecting your culture, you are also conserving the practices you have possessed from the teachings of your ancestors. In such a way, it helped a person determine and redevelop the identity.




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