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Originally Posted by Yorkie2Love whats a powwow? |
Good question! It is a gathering of several different tribes of Native American Indians. There is an indoor or outdoor arena where the Indians sing and dance in their native attire. In Taos, for example, the powwow is held in a field and they build an arbor of freshly cut trees. The arbor is in a circle and every sits under the arbor to watch the dancers in the center. The powwow I went to today was in a big gymnasium so it was indoors.
The dancers wear different styles of dress, e.g., fancy dancers, grass dancers, fancy shawl dancers, buckskin dancers. Everyone must be in the appropriate dress to dance and many dances are competitive. Sometimes there is prize money and/or other prizes for winning or placing in the competitions.
The different styles of dress are absolutely gorgeous and the dancing is magnificent. There are also singers who drum and sing for each dance. The singers sit in a circle around a drum and all beat the drum and sing the words in native tongue while the dancers dance whatever particular dance is indicated by style of dress (fancy dance, buckskin dance, etc) - meaning that all the fancy dancers dance together, all the jingle dress dancers dance all together. It is so wonderful to sit and watch these talented folks.
Here is a link to the Austin Powwow site which has more information about powwows.
http://www.austinpowwow.org/index.htm