The Native American Powwow

Trouble, pain and difficulty are conditions that tend to isolate people; making them feel disconnected from everyone and everything around them. Spirituality is a way of connecting oneself to something that gives a person’s life meaning and purpose. This connection can be to the Creator, to nature, to family and friends, or to a sense of belonging to a cause, a culture or a religion. While some may achieve spirituality by reaching out to make one of these connections, Native Americans hold an event that makes all of these connections: The Powwow.
At my first powwow I discovered the Native American community coming together; some from a few miles away and others from hundreds of miles. The sense of community is felt by Native Americans of many different tribes as well as those gathering to observe. The heartbeat of the powwow is the drums; large drums several feet in diameter, and each drum is played by six to eight men. I was shocked to see these teams of drummers wearing t-shirts, jeans, tennis shoes, and even sunglasses. I quickly discovered that these people were not stuck in the 19th century, but were a modern people who melded the past with the present—preserving a tradition but not living in the past. The singing was a call and response chant that was timeless; the listener could close his or her eyes and travel to centuries past with the music. The dancers, however, wore traditional costumes and danced as their ancestors had done over eons past. The costumes were very colorful and often ornately decorated with a very important symbol: The feather. Out of all the feathers used in the native regalia, the eagle’s feathers are held in the highest esteem, for the eagle is considered a messenger to God, or in Native American words, the Great Spirit. There were many different dancers as there were many different styles of dance. One of the most spiritual was a dance to honor those who had passed away in the last year. With each meditative step you could see the dancer trying to connect with the memory of lost friends or family; and the observer realizes that no one is exempt from loss—and a connection is made. As the dancers reach out to the memories of lost loved ones they reach out to each and every observer to overshadow that feeling of loss by connecting to memories, by connecting to others who have experienced loss, and by connecting to a sense of spirituality; whether it be an existentialist sense of altruism and shared experience, or a belief in a Creator that allows the spirit to continue living after the body has passed on. For those that are participating as well as those who are just observing, the isolation one may feel gives way to a connection to something greater than just watching a dance; this connection encompasses the timelessness and resilience of the human spirit.

Tim Scullion
Published in the book “The Troubled Times Companion” by the University of Virginia
copyright 2009 All rights reserved

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amer indian, ancestors, costume, dancer, dancing, drumbeat, indian, loss, mattaponi, memory, music, native american, past, powhatan, powwow, present, singing, tradition, tribe and warrior