Sunday, October 16, 2016

POW-WOW: Native American Harvest Fest

On Saturday we took advantage of the beautiful autumn weather and went to the Native American Harvest Festival in Hibernia Park. As newcomers we didn't know what to expect, and it turned out to be pretty amazing and moving. There were a lot of people dressed in Native American clothing, what they called their "regalia," but those of us outsiders wearing humdrum jeans and fleece were more than welcome to enter the dance circle and join in (yes, we did so).
During the inter-tribal dances, done to the accompaniment of drumming and chanting, the dancers moved in a slow circle around a smoldering log. At one point, one of the dancers felt moved to approach the drummers and "honor the drum," and we were asked to put away our cameras during this sacred moment.
The performance by Cenzontle Cuicatl, an Aztec dance troupe from Philadelphia, was nothing short of electrifying. They were amazingly vigorous and athletic dancers, and the muscular drummers who kept the beat had wonderful strength and stamina. Just when I thought they'd gotten as intense as they could (one even broke a drumstick), they took it up another notch.
We also watched a skilled hoop dancer, Matt White Eagle, who linked a few dozen hoops (smaller than hula-hoop size) to create globes and flapping wings, not missing a beat of his dance in the process. I would have been tripping all over myself.
It was incongruous to see a man wearing a full animal headdress lighting up a cigarette, another in Mohawk face paint using a baby-blue cellphone, and an intimidating man with an elaborate silver nose ring wearing orange sunglasses.
I wasn't aware that there was so much overlap between the Native American participants and the veterans' movement. There was even an official "Head Veteran," John Ironhorse. Several of the men wore costumes that combined Native American elements with their U.S. military badges and honors and POW/MIA emblems. There was a prominent booth raising money for Iron Warriors, a nonprofit that provides veterans with special service dogs to help them cope with post-traumatic stress disorder. And pow-wow proceeds were going to support David's Drive 831, a local nonprofit that helps homeless and hospitalized veterans.
Outside of the dance circle were vendors selling Native American jewelry, clothing and other paraphernalia. One food vendor had an apparent electrical problem with her truck: a pow-wow participant wearing suede moccasins, and standing on wet ground, informed her that he suffered a painful shock when he touched the truck's metal serving hatch. She immediately shut down operations.

9 comments:

  1. I'm glad you enjoyed yourself it was nice to have you there.

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    1. Barry, you did a GREAT job explaining what we were seeing. Thank you so much! It was an awesome day.

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  2. I love reading reviews like this from newcomers! I'm so glad you enjoyed yourself and we all made you feel welcome. Please visit more powwows. We love sharing our heritage with anyone willing to join us!

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    1. Thank you for reading and commenting! We had a wonderful time at the powwow. If you know the person who is in charge of publicity, please put me on your mailing list because my blog also appears each week in "The Kennett Paper." uvilleblogger@gmail.com is my address.

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  3. Very respectfully write up thank you

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    1. Wow, thanks! That is exactly the spirit I wanted to convey in my story.

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  4. Thank you for this article, well written with the exception of the word Costumes. A Costume is something worn to be something or someone you are not. We call it Regalia or outfit. Also we have very Veteran oriented. The Native American have the largest percentage of service per capita of any Ethnic group. Approximately 10% of our population Serve in the Military.

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  5. That is a truly impressive statistic -- thanks for letting me know. And I will remember that "costume" is not the best choice of words here.

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