THINGS
TO BUY AND PEOPLE TO SEE
There are tipis
and tents that belong to the people who have arranged with the Powwow
Committee to camp for the weekend, and it looks real homey. You shouldn’t
visit unless you are invited, as these are private family spaces.
You can hear drums and singers practicing as the sound crew tests
the microphones and amplification system. There is an air of excitement.
| As you get
in closer to the arbor where the dancing will happen, you see
the vendor tables set up all around the outer edges of the arena.
People are displaying things to sell. Some vendors offer food:
frybread, corn on the cob, soft drinks, juice, coffee and tea,
meat jerky, burgers, hot dogs, and sandwiches are some of the
food people sometimes have for sale. |
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Some vendors
sell CDs and cassette tapes, jewelry, clothes, beads and beading
supplies, quillwork, clay pots, baskets and other wonderful handmade
items.
This vendor is selling beads in all the favorite shapes and sizes.
There are thousands of colors. |
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You’ll
probably see people getting ready for the powwow, and helping
each other with their dance outfits.
<These women are Jingle Dancers. Their dresses are decorated
with cones often made from snuff cans. |
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<Here’s
a group of Grass Dancers waiting for Grand Entry. |
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<A Fancy Shawl Dancer and her friend, a Men’s Fancy Dancer,
wait for Grand Entry. |
As it nears Grand
Entry time, you make your way through the crowd around the arena to
find a place from which to watch the powwow. At one end of the arena,
the dancers will be waiting for the arena director to tell them where
to stand. They will enter by category, so probably the Jingle Dancers
will be waiting in their group and the Grass Dancers will be waiting
in their own group, and so on.
You politely make your way to find your spot to watch among all the
other spectators. Before you sit down someplace, it’s polite to
ask the people who are already seated whether you may sit there too,
as their family members may be dancing in the Grand Entry.
At last the announcers call out that Grand Entry is about to begin,
and the first Drum Group starts to sing. Now we invite you to put on
some powwow music and enjoy learning more about the powwow, courtesy
of the American Indian Education Committee of the Minnesota State Board
of Education. Note: There are both Ojibwe reservations as well as Dakota
(Sioux) reservations in Minnesota, and the following powwow unit was
mostly written by Ojibwe people. Usually there are lots of different
tribes represented at a modern powwow, but the host reservation decides
the details of the powwow.
Your SCIENCE: Through Native American Eyes CD-ROM has a section
in the Principles of Sound area called the Cradleboard Jukebox. In the
DRUMS area you can find powwow songs by Stoney Park and White Fish Juniors. |