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Dancing for the Creator

Posted about 1 week ago by Summer Bowling Michau
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Have you ever heard a meeting described as a “powwow?”

Real powwows are far more exciting than just any old get-together. They are fun, festive, beautiful, and sacred. Throughout powwow season, various Native organizations – tribes themselves, museums, coalitions, and others – host gatherings for Indigenous peoples to dance together, drum together, and sing together. Non-Indigenous people are also welcome to eat some delicious fry bread, buy from Native artisans, and celebrate Indigenous cultures.

The debut novel of Tommy Orange (Cheyenne and Arapaho), There, There, chronicles various characters in the planning of a powwow in the Southwest. His latest novel, Wandering Stars, picks up where There, There left off. You can check these out in the adult fiction section at your local branch or listen to them on your Libby app!

I have grown up going to powwows. My father and I are members of a multitribal nonprofit based in upstate Pennsylvania, the Eastern Delaware Nations (EDN). Every year the EDN puts on a memorable powwow during Father’s Day weekend.

Photo of my father and I at the powwow in 2015
My father and I at the powwow in 2015
Fancy shawl dancers at the 2011 EDN Powwow.
Fancy shawl dancers at the 2011 EDN Powwow.

Fancy Shawl Dancing

As a child, I was a fancy shawl dancer. Fancy dancers use their beautiful shawls to mimic the movements of a butterfly.

In the picture book Josie Dances by Denise Lajimodiere (Chippewa), Josie prepares for her first powwow, dancing in a gorgeous, fringed rainbow shawl on the cover. Other picture books in RPL’s collection about the powwow experience include Powwow Day by Traci Sorrell (Cherokee), Bowwow Powwow by Brenda Child (Ojibwe), and Why We Dance: a Story of Hope and Healing by Deirdre Havrelock (Cree). 

We Still Belong by Christine Day (Upper Skagit) and Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Muscogee) are both children’s fiction volumes that feature powwows in their stories.

Fancy shawl dancer at the 2015 Powwow.
Fancy shawl dancer at the 2015 Powwow.

Grass Dancers

Grass dancers enter the dancing circle first, to tamp down on the grass. Their regalia is typically fringed, to evoke the look of the long grasses of the plains. Jingle dress dancers, like the one pictured above, have regalia featuring metal, such as a tin can lid, rolled and sewn in the dozens onto their skirts. In every step, these makeshift bells chime melodiously – with each jingle specifically sending a prayer for healing to the Creator. 

A jingle dress dancer at the 2015 powwow.
A jingle dress dancer at the 2015 powwow
Grass dancers from the 2012 and 2014 EDN Powwows.
Grass dancers from the 2012 and 2014 EDN Powwows.

While powwow season is currently winding down, they will come back in the spring. In the meantime, check out our resources to learn more about these wonderful celebrations!

Summer Bowling Michau

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