Saturday, July 6, 2019

Little Known Facts 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.

Healing ceremony was powwow known for before it evolved into something that even people who are not identified to be one of them would still enjoy. The healing is done with the religious leaders. There is no exact distinction of how it came into existence, and all people know is that it allowed believers to be consistent with that they truly stand in with the help of spiritual existence. The event would usually start in the summer and spring seasons.

It has started as a religious celebration for believers to acquire wisdom and to celebrate the creator, Wakan Tanka. However, it has mainly been changing over the years. Today, it is celebrated as a social gathering that includes competitions through dances, and religious acts are still performed. Perhaps, it did not deeply change its overall practice, but it only evolved and with additional activities that would be more engaging for more natives.

Healing will always be the highlight of every ceremony which is also associated with chants, dancing and singing, drum playing and a lot more. The younger generation is fortunate enough to still experience the beauty of this ceremonial situation. However, as not all can join every event, some powwows would offer their time to go around the country and look for potential people that would be willing to learn more about the heritage.

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.

Perhaps, there could be several factors that have affected other cultures to die down. It is the preservation and determination that is lacking. When you commit to keeping and protecting your culture, you are also conserving the practices you have possessed from the teachings of your ancestors. In such a way, it helped a person determine and redevelop the identity.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment