Wednesday 10 July 2019

What You Need To Know About Native American Pow Wows

By Rebecca Barnes


Every culture has different ways of how it is celebrated. Every place in every country has its way of celebrating festivals and ceremonies that have been part of their practices. It is common among everyone to attend into these kinds of festivities to experience the culture other people have grown to, to socialize and to experience religious related activities. Have you heard of powwows? Perhaps, not all of you have heard of it, or maybe you do from somewhere else. The Native american pow wows have been proof of a living tribal tradition and culture.

Tribes celebrate to recognize and reestablish their own identities and heritage. It has been a part of powwows to continue what has been started since the early times. One of its aims is to let the younger individuals today take their tradition with pride and let them acquire the wealthy culture of American Indians. Through this, people can join in different types of activities such as social gatherings and competition which they can also join.

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 proven to evolve throughout the years as it started as a religious event to obtain insights and to recognize the creator, Wakan Tanka. Today, it has been more of a celebration to showcase the tribal dancers and singers competitively. However, the celebration is not complete without the religious side of it. Ideally, it did not undergo drastic changes when it comes to how it is celebrated and how it should be, but it only added significant excitement for all to engage in.

The dancing, gathering, chants, healing sessions and the loud boom of every drum are the major components as to how it should be celebrated. The new set of generation is fortunate enough to still celebrate this kind of renewal and social gathering celebration. The natives have tried to continue this tradition, not just for their interest, but to let others experience it as well. Some powwows would go around different places in the country just to teach other people and inform them further on the Native American culture.

The natives perform their given pieces with a hint of religion, cultural and storytelling concepts. These performances have evolved and are now part of the competition. Some festivals would last just a day, but powwows would reach up to three days consecutive. It has been consistent that over one hundred thousand watchers would wait for this ceremony every year. This is the best indication of how rich their culture is.

Part of this ceremony is the showcasing of fancy, colorful and complex dresses that natives mostly use in their performances. There is a lot of intricate tailoring that to be done just to come up with the best dresses for their performances. Some of these dances would include the fancy feather dancing, jingle dancing and so much more. A dress for them is not just something worn, but it also has its origin and is designed with its meaning. This has been one of the many features that they showcase with so much pride.

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.

Keep and protecting the heritage and culture of a tribe or a place is something that only a few individuals have taken seriously these days. Modern living has allowed a lot of people to take this situation as something irrelevant. It is important to consider these aspects as this will also let other people engage in your identity and beliefs. There is so much to discover out there than just settling for what you already know.




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