Pow Wows: Hozhoni Days Pow Wow

Monday, April 20, 2015

Hozhoni Days Pow Wow

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This time the Pow Wow was held in a Sports Hall. Imagine our surprise when we almost immediately saw the same man who had been so helpful at Farmington (orchestrated getting us T-shirts). We spoke further with him, his name was Matthew, which we had missed the week before. He is a professional Pow Wow competitor, not only does he dance but he is also a member of a Drum Crew!, though unfortunately we did not see him perform this week. He comes from a tribe who live in Wisconsin and he travels from Pow Wow to Pow Wow. Very interesting man. We then enjoyed watching some Jingle Dancing and the Teen and Mens Grass Dance. At the end of the afternoon competitions it was announced that there would be a Special. The family concerned had asked for a Two Step Dance. We were amazed to see Indians, in traditional costume stepping out in a formalised couples dance, using ballroom holds and a slow version of jive.
Details:Hozhoni Days Pow Wow

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Basics of Pow Wows

This is my own definitive description, so don't hold me to account for mistakes.
The programme of events has three elements: Gourd Dance, Grand Entry and Competition. The cycle of elements is gone through on Friday night and repeated in sessions on Saturday afternoon and again on Saturday night, each cycle becomes more important and exciting. Each element is carried out with the precision of an Asian Wedding, you know the order it will happen in, you just don't know when it's going to happen.
Here is a quick diagram of the arena layout, which is about 100 metres long.
The Dance Circle is the focal point of the whole affair, you can only go into this if invited in some way. Although the dancing is the focus, the Drum Teams are very important, they are placed right on the edge of the Dance Circle, the higher ranked teams are closest to the stage.
Apart from a centre aisle which is kept clear people may then sit wherever they wish, near the dance floor, with the vendors, round the drum teams, on the bleachers, we chose to sit on the bleachers as it is raised up, gave us a good view and enabled Sally to move around with her chair.

That is the simple part of the explanation! As with any social system the more people you have the more complicated it becomes. In order to make sure that things are done properly a careful etiquette has evolved. One assumes that this, like British etiquette, has evolved to ensure that groups that may at one time have been hostile to each other can come together in relative peace.

To the eye this may look like a colourful dance festival, but to the families and clans much of the maneuvering is political (with a small p).
On digging further we found that there are layers of meaning and strands of activity that weave together to produce a cloth as complex as any Scottish tartan.
So I do not claim that the following are accurate explanations, they are pretty much what I thought I saw and what I thought people explained to me, so I may well be wrong on some of it.
What happens in the Dance Circle is managed by the Arena Director and ceremonies are led by a Head Man and Head Woman, who are appointed at the previous year's Pow Wow. The front man and link to the audience is the M.C., who acts like a cross between a sports commentator and a disc jockey.

Gourd Dance
Each session starts with a Gourd Dance. Though it is an ancient dance it is a relatively new feature of Pow Wows. The dance was banned (don't know why - subversive?) by the government in the 1890's, but was re-introduced in 1952. It was originally a Kaiwa Dance, but has now spread to many Pow Wows, so important has it become that there are Gourd Societies in many different parts of the country. It's post WW2 introduction means that it is especially associated with Military Veterans, who usually make up the principal dancers.
There is a Head Gourd Dancer, who leads each dance. It is a slow dance, with very little movement, but one must carry a gourd (or shaker) and preferably a fan. Each dance may last up to fifteen minutes. In between dances various social bits happen, such as Giveaways

Giveaways
Giveaways are a time when someone may wish to thank another person or group, e.g. maybe to thank everyone for the help they gave in supporting their son through college. The sponsor of the Giveaway would purchase a song, from a drum team, after an introduction telling people what the Giveaway was for the dance would start, anyone can join in a Giveaway Song, and numbers would grow depending on how important the person holding the giveaway was, the reason for the Giveaway, etc. When the song has finished the holder of the Giveaway stands at the top of the Dance circle and the dancers file past dropping money at his (her) feet, then join the end of the line to watch and listen. Once everyone has filed past and given cash then the sponsor gives away gifts to particular people, often Pendleton Blankets are a favourite gift, though anything up to horses are considered as good gifts.
Factors in the performance of the Giveaways denote the relative importance of the sponsor. Factors such as the timing, the numbers taking part, the Drum Crew who perform, how long the dance takes, who stands with the sponsor, the value of gifts given, the order in which gifts are given, all have their place in determining a pecking order. One important Saturday night Giveaway is by the Head Man Dancer and the Head Woman Dancer to the Host Drum Teams, the M.C., the Arena Director, etc. This is an important role and the next years Head Man and Woman Dancers are appointed now, so that they can start saving for the gifts they must give next year.
Each Gourd Dance session will usually last for two hours, maybe more.
Following the Gourd Dance is the Grand Entry

Grand Entry
The Grand Entry is started with a prayer which is said for the PowWow, this is followed by a single, fairly short dance, maybe twenty minutes,. The various flags of the nations (inc American Flag) are paraded into the Dance Circle, round the Dance Circle and then to the centre of the Dance Circle, they are followed by all of the competitive dancers and judges, all in their costumes. The dancers enter the circle from the aisle and starting at the outside spiral round the Dance Circle until all the dancers are in the circle. When everyone is in the dance finishes. The flags are then formally presented and the competition can start.On Saturday night the Grand Entry had 501 dancers, all compressed into quite a small Dance Circle, it was quite an impressive sight.

Competitions
The main focus is the competitive dances, that in itself has many layers, just in the dances and sections.
There are four main dances: Traditional, Fancy, Grass and Chicken. Women dance: Traditional, Fancy, Jingle Dance, Buckskin and Shawl.
There are two main dance styles: Northern Style and Southern Style
There are five main age groups: Tiny Tots, Junior, teens, adult and Golden Age
During the competitive part of the Pow Wow groups will be variously called:
e.g. Adult, Men, Traditional. At which time they will probably perform Northern Style and then Southern Style.
So there are potentially 90 different classes of dance, each with Northern and Southern Style.
There are also other less well known competitive dances. These dances seem to be universal across different tribes and nations, though each has its own variations.

Singers and Drum Crews
All dances are led by the Singers, which is the proper name for a drum crew. Up to eight men, each with a single stick gathered round a single large drum, with other men and women round them make up a singing group.
There are also competitions for the drum crews. At this Pow Wow there were six drum crews. Two were invited, called the Hosts, there was a Northern Drum Host, called Northern Cree, from Canada and a Southern Drum Host called Thunder Hill, from Oklahoma. They may have played different styles, but my ear could not make out the differences. The other Drum Crews were there competitively. One set of dances was set aside for the Drum competition, these were not competitive for the dancers, so they were used to sing for a form of social dancing, called an Intertribal Dance, which anyone could join in with.

Specials
As well as the traditional competitions individuals would sponsor a 'Special'. They put up the prize money, paid the singers and decided which age and type of dance would be used. There may be two or three of these in each session.
If the crowd, the dancers or the M.C. enjoyed a dance then it would be repeated.
At the start of a dance the M.C. would call upon a particular Drum Crew to sing one or maybe two songs. The singing for the competitive dances would be shared between all the Drum Crews.
So that describes the competitive bit.

The Crowd:
This seemed to be a good sized Pow Wow with maybe 4000 people there on the Saturday night. As a social occasion the Pow Wow is a time for people to get together, as we looked round about us we could see many family groups. Many of them would include several dancers, so the families were rooting for them in the competitions. Often as a drum team played many people (usually men) would gather round the team to watch closely. Many people brought lawn chairs and sat in the arena. Most people either brought food or bought it from vendors. The popular item being Navajo Fry Bread. A self raising flour dough, spread like a pizza and deep fried like a donut. Quite nice hot with honey and icing sugar on it. Often the dancing appears totally incidental to the chat among the audience, indeed many of the dances, especially the Giveaways appeal to only a small number of people and although they are taking place in the Dance Circle, may be quite irrelevant to most people there.

Intertribal Dance
A sort of social interlude, during which anyone can join in the Dance Circle and Dance. During the Intertribal dances many families would enter the dance circle and dance gently round, welcoming each other and generally chatting, sort of a cross between Pearly Kings and Queens and the dance floor at the Hammersmith Palais (I imagine).

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Monday, April 20, 2015

Hozhoni Days Pow Wow

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