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Native American celebrations are packed with symbolic gestures and intriguing details. A kind of party called a potlatch, staged by native peoples of the Pacific Northwest, was marked by guests receiving gifts, not giving them, and were sometimes put on to get back at an enemy. This appealing volume about a high-interest aspect of native cultures highlights several celebrations and ceremonies important to Native Americans across North America. Thought-provoking fact boxes, historical images, and modern-day customs will engage readers of all levels.
From pre-Columbian times to the present day, Native Americans have enjoyed celebrating holidays and other special occasions. Tribes celebrated festivals and ceremonies throughout the year. These included everything from significant events in a person's life, the changing of the seasons, the arrival of special people or places, and elements of nature. This book discusses the important festivals and ceremonies celebrated by tribes in specific regions, outlining the form of the festival and how each was celebrated.
"Native American celebrations are packed with symbolic gestures and intriguing details. A kind of party called a potlatch, staged by native peoples of the Pacific Northwest, was marked by guests receiving gifts, not giving them, and were sometimes observed to get back at an enemy. This appealing volume about a high-interest aspect of native cultures highlights several celebrations like the potlatch as well as ceremonies important to Native Americans across North America. Thought-provoking fact boxes, historical images, and modern-day customs will engage readers of all levels. A concluding graphic organizer and critical-thinking questions encourage readers to consider the book's key ideas"--
Introducing the powwow: a social get-together and celebration of Native American culture. It is a way to keep traditions alive; it is also a reunion with family and friends. The heartbeat of the drum unites many different nations of Native people.
Looks at the history of the powwow in Chicago.
Everywhere they are dancing. From Oklahoma City's huge Red Earth celebration to fund-raising events at local high schools, powwows are a vital element of contemporary Indian life on the Southern Plains. Some see it as tradition, handed down through the generations. Others say it's been sullied by white participation and robbed of its spiritual significance. But, during the past half century, the powwow has become one of the most popular and visible expressions of the dynamic cultural forces at work in Indian country today. Clyde Ellis has written the first comprehensive history of Southern Plains powwow culture-an interdisciplinary, highly collaborative ethnography based on more than two decades of participation in powwows. In seeking to determine what "powwow people" mean by so designating themselves, he addresses how the powwow and its role in contemporary Indian identity have changed over time-along with its songs and dances-and how Indians for nearly a century have used dance to define themselves within their communities. A Dancing People shows that, whether understood as an intertribal or tribally specific event, dancing often satisfies needs and obligations that are not met in other ways-and that many Southern Plains Indians organize their lives around dancing and the continuity of culture that it represents. As one Kiowa elder explained, "When I go to [these dances], I'm right where those old people were. Singing those songs, dancing where they danced. And my children and grandchildren, they've learned these ways, too, because it's good, it's powerful." Ellis tells us not only why and how Southern Plains powwow culture originated, but also something about what it means. He explores powwow's cultural and historical roots, tracing suppression by government advocates of assimilation, Indian resistance movements, internal tribal disputes, and the emergence of powerful song and dance traditions. He also includes a series of conversations and interviews with powwow people in which they comment on why they go to dances and what the dances mean to them as Indian people. An insightful study of performance, ritual, and culture, A Dancing People also makes an important statement about the search for identity among Native Americans today.
The Pow Wow is a celebration of traditions, the earliest of which-according to modern records-was around 1877. It was a celebration after the removal of the Indian to Indian Territory. A celebration of arrival after the hardships of the journey and so many had died along the road to Oklahoma. The word "pow wow" derives from our ancestors and is an Algonquin term for a gathering of medicine men and spiritual leaders in a curing ceremony, "pauau" or "pau wau." Historically, even before records were kept, all tribes held ceremonies or get-togethers to celebrate gatherings (our family reunion), warfare, sing, dance, visit and feast. These ceremonies allowed people to give thanks, honor their deceased relatives, or give special honors, such as name-giving ceremonies and coming-of-age rite. Many times they were held to renew allegiances and maintain friendships with members of visiting tribes.
Colloquially the term “powwow” refers to a meeting where important matters will be discussed. However, at the thousands of Native American intertribal dances that occur every year throughout the United States and Canada, a powwow means something else altogether. Sometimes lasting up to a week, these social gatherings are a sacred tradition central to Native American spirituality. Attendees dance, drum, sing, eat, re-establish family ties, and make new friends. In this compelling interdisciplinary work, Ann Axtmann examines powwows as practiced primarily along the Atlantic coastline, from New Jersey to New England. She offers an introduction to the many complexities of the tradition and explores the history of powwow performance, the variety of their setups, the dances themselves, and the phenomenon of “playing Indian.” Ultimately, Axtmann seeks to understand how the dancers express and embody power through their moving bodies and what the dances signify for the communities in which they are performed.
American Indian Cultures covers a vast array of subjects on American Indian cultures -- from fine arts to ceremonies, from legends to the culture's global influence.
Examines Native American powwow celebrations, discussing the preparation, grand entry, competitions, traditional costumes, instruments, and symbols.