Kahnawake Pow Wow: Five Days Not About Moi

Kahnawake Pow Wow - Echoes of a Proud Nation 2011 - FINAL POST

Previous Posts:
1. Intro to the Kahnawake Mohawk/Kanienkahaka reserve
2. Men I met on the bus rides to Kahnawake

3. Be Excellent in Her Presence

4. Aligned like living magnetic needle

A few final pics, videos, and thoughts.

I came back with food in time to see the tiny tots!

That boy on the bottom left was really working it. He meant bidness.

But I missed their Saturday competition.

 Not my pic, but shows you how seriously all the age groups take these competitions. And they all win money too.

This young woman (not my pic) was a jungle dancer and holy cats* she just never stopped dancing. Towards the end there was a general dance where anyone could join in, but it had been a long hot day, and it was 4 PM, sun still in the sky, so many dancers were just walking or swaying at this point. But she kept right on, hand on hip, JINGLE JINGLE JINGLE DAMMIT!

I never showed you the earrings I bought! They're made of antler with hand-painted turtles on them. (We can talk another time about why I bought animal-product earrings. Suffice it to say, it wasn't a mistake, but no, my principles haven't changed.)

My favorite of the 5 or 6 drum bands, and one of the two albums I bought, was Black Bear from northern Quebec. Here are two videos, not from the pow wow I attended. They're a little subdued on this number but it's pretty.


Usually they were letting it rip and drawing a big crowd.


And so ends my pow wow description week. Thanks to those who stuck with me through it, lol. :-) Mouah mouah! xxoo

I just couldn't do it justice in one post, or didn't feel like it anyway. I mean, I've got Irish, English, Scottish, French and Belgian roots, which spread at least as far as the Prairies, and surely did some damage right here in Montreal. And while I know many of the settler stories of my Irish ancestors in Alberta--my great-grandmother came over as a little girl--and I know these were good people, kind people, that doesn't mean that settlement didn't have a negative impact, nonetheless, on the many good kind people who lived in Alberta before them. And all the other places my peeps settled.

And though a lot of *my peeps,* the pink peoples, refuse to see it, to this day that gives us advantages that no one else has. So that even when we fall on our asses, it's that much easier to get back up. For those born into disadvantage, it's that much easier to get ahead and become one of the elite. And for those born into the elite, you get to inherit the power to keep making the world in your image.

So. It seemed worth my time to take five days out of my blog to talk about someone other than myself.

:-)

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* Thank you Judy, Judy, Judy for my new favorite expression. I'm reading Judy's serialized Gothic novel, which she's posting on her web site. It's really good! I don't usually read ghost stories so I love the creepy parts the best, but it's also a good romance. It's about a marriage of convenience between an ex-model fighting for custody of two eating-disordered girls, and an injured soccer player in need of a green card, holed up in a haunted house.

The story's heroine, Clementine, occasionally says: Holy cats!  And it is hands down my aces new fave expression. To start The Hungry Ghosts is go here.


            

Kahnawake Pow Wow: Aligned like living magnetic needle

Kahnawake Pow Wow - Echoes of a Proud Nation 2011 - POST 4

Previous Posts:
1. Intro to the Kahnawake Mohawk/Kanienkahaka reserve
2. Men I met on the bus rides to Kahnawake

3. Be Excellent in Her Presence

__________________________________

Here's my only good pics, of the Golden Age 60+ men competing, which started the competition after the honor dances.

Watching the "old boys" (the mc called all the men, of all ages "boys," which of course you wouldn't want a white person to do, but from him it was charming) I immediately thought about the "hipster headdresses" which I've posted about before.

These men were awesome dancers. I think most of them were dancing "traditional" which doesn't require a lot of running around, but (it seems to me) requires precise movements, control, being at one with the musc, and maybe acting? Once the music began they were transformed from guys-hanging-out-giving-fives-and-smoking, to warriors and hunters reliving their battles, and storytelling. I wonder how many years they've been dancing.

 

I was reading yesterday the blog of a Tsilhqot'tin woman, who was mostly raised in urban areas, and works a lot in fashion, blogs about fashion and such--all cool. She likes the use of headdresses in fashion, and wishes more native clothing were integrated into the fashion world, both cause she appreciates their beauty, and when they're beautifully photographed; and because she likes to see the integration of native culture into mainstream culture. 

Of course, she has more right to her views than I to mine, and I like her blog for exposing me to a diversity of views--aboriginal people aren't a "monolith" (good ole university word!) But in one entry she said her people don't have a tradition of war bonnets, and she doesn't do the pow wow circuit, so I wondered if the issue would hit her harder in the gut if that were the case? But I could be totally and INSULTINGLY OFF BASE. [face blush]

You can read Lisa Charleyboy views here, and here. (Though she did protest when a blog went as far as "playing cowboys and Indians" with the fashion images. But I feel like, that's what you're going to get once the fashion world starts down the path of using cultural items they don't understand. Meh.)

It's just that, when I watched these old men, and then the younger men, and then the little boys who had worked so hard on their dancing, I felt like they'd earned the right to their headdresses and to the feathers on their backs. It didn't feel like I was watching a fashion parade.

 

I felt like any of those Coachella-headdress-wearers, if they ever went to a pow wow and sat and really WATCHED these men, they might have got the point. Cause when you're there, and feeling the drums in your belly, and someone is voicing a beautiful song, it's an Experience.

Here's a younger group of men (at some other pow wow) performing men's traditional. It really was my favorite category, I could have watched much more of it. There were some dancers that just completely transfixed me--it was disappointing when the music stopped.

As for the experience, as a white person, I think Bruce Cockburn captures it pretty well, despite the 80s-electronica, with his song "Hoop Dancer." (At least it's Hugh Marsh's electric fiddle, which is still cool sounding.)

There's a time line
Something like vertical, like perpendicular
Cutting through figures shuffling on horizontal plane
Cutting through the survival pride of the dancers
Through the guilty, sentimental warmth of the crowd
Through to some essence common to us, to original man
To perhaps descendants numberless ... or few

Where it intersects the space at hand
This shaman with the hoops stands
Aligned like living magnetic needle between deep past and looming future
Butterfly pierced on each drum beat, wing beat, thunder clap, static spark, storm front, energy circle delineated by leaping limbs

        

Kahnawake Pow Wow - Be Excellent in Her Presence

Kahnawake Pow Wow - Echoes of a Proud Nation 2011 - POST 3

Previous Posts:
1. Intro to the Kahnawake Mohawk/Kanienkahaka reserve
2. Men I met on the bus rides to Kahnawake

I don't have many good pics of my own. I'm not used to this camera, so when I switched sides of the field the sun was facing me and my pics were all overexposed.  >:-(   I marked my photos with a * but the rest aren't mine.

___________________________

THE POW WOW GROUNDS

Originally a Powwow was held in the spring to welcome the new beginnings of life. Often different tribal nations would come together for the occasion. During these general meetings the Native American Indians would settle arguments between different groups, form alliances, and trade with one another. It was also a time for families to hold naming and honoring ceremonies. The original Pow Wows often were of religious significance and therefore consisted of different religious songs and dances. Please note that at contemporary Pow Wows religious dances are usually not performed.

A contemporary Powwow is a social event for everyone to have a fun and entertaining time, whether you're a Native American or just interested in Native American cultures. Pow Wows offer a time for Native Americans from a variety of different tribal nations to get together and participate in visiting, singing, and dancing. (From the official web site)

I went on Sunday, day two, when the finalists were going up against each other. Woo! 

Me, who usually goes to bed at 8 AM, got up at 8 AM.  :-O

 

(David Neel's Munch Scream)

 The pow wow consisted of a sort of "fair ground" with food booths on one side, and crafts on the other, leading towards the grass-arena where the dancing takes place.

Main foods: bison burgers, moose burgers, walleye nuggets, bannock bread, shortcakes, corn soup, wild rice, snow cones, Indian tacos, and strawberry juice.

The dancing was to start at noon so before then I scoped out the jewelry so I could buy something. This is the place to buy because the sellers have to guarantee that their wares are "Indian made" and not made-in-China crapola, and that they're not selling you items that should only be used for sacred purposes. Occasionally there'd be a booth with no one at it, and that would make me suspicion, lol, like "If the local people aren't shopping there... maybe I shouldn't be eeeeither..."

When I was leaving later I saw a whole other row of booths I'd missed! But they looked like bigger, more expensive items (bowls, blankets, clothing) so it's just as well. Wouldn't want aboriginal-crafts-envy.


WARRIOR CULTURE

By noon all the tree-shaded seats in the stands were full--full of smart people. I'd read that you shouldn't take pictures during the opening march, and honor dances, like honoring war veterans. So I took a pic of the vets before it started.

 Dancers getting dressed *

The soldiers *

I'd also read on the Kahnawake site that many non-Natives are perplexed by all the emphasis on soldiers, and I would have been too! Here's the explanation:

The respect shown to veterans is an integral part of American Indian cultures, a tradition from times when the welfare of every village depended on the number and ability of its fighting men. To be a warrior was a man's purpose in life and the most honorable death a man could have was to fall defending the people. To the Indian people, the well-being of the entire tribe was more important that that of any individual; and so the warriors were honored because they were willing to give their lives in order that the people might live. Today's veterans are accorded the same tokens of honor and respect as the warriors of times past.

Isn't that interesting? It also explains this photo I'd seen:

That seems like a healing ritual. We have too few in modern day life. The MC later asked for prayers for two Mohawk soldiers in Afghanistan.

We were asked to stand until after the honor dances were over, and for men to remove their hats.  So the veterans marched out, most American, including a young female marine. 

THE DANCING

All the dancers came out behind them, by "type." Let me tell you, it's impressive to see and hear twenty jingle dresses bounce past you all in a row!

It's also impressive to hear drum/singing bands live--so different than hearing on youtube or an album. You feel the drums thumping through you! And the dancers have to match their dancing to changes in the music, so the dancing and singing come together as one act. It's super interesting to watch.

The regalia (not "costumes") were beautiful, though some of it looked so hot cause there's a lot of synthetic fabric. A lot of feather fanning going on. 

The men's and women's dances are very different, though there's variety. The men's dances are all pretty active--I guess, just like in most cases in nature, men gotta work to get women's attention. Okay yes, I know these dances are usually about war and such, and maybe weren't even done in front of women (I haven't researched any of this yet), but the ones done in front of women... oh baby... there had to be some Sexual Tension going on.

LA ROMANCE?

The second Tao of Steve is "be excellent in her presence" and I can imagine a pow wow dancer with mad skillz scoring big time. You could be a bit shy off the field, maybe a bit plain, but put on the war paint, put on the feathers, and literally strut yourself--you've got it made in the shade.

[Most of these pics are from Kahnawake, either this year or previous. A few are elsewhere, cause I was trying to find the women's regalia pics.]

 

 

 

 

 

    

Now the ladies' dances are more sedate. The jingle dance has some movement, and there's one--I forget which--where the women fly about, arms outstretched. But the others have such minimal movements, it's hard to detect movement. A woman will be wearing a beautiful--I mean GOOORGEOUS white fringe-to-the-floor regalia (like Andrew bought Michelle on North of 60!)--and she'll be holding a feather which she'll occasionally hold outstretched but otherwise hold close to her body, and she'll be sl-o-w-ly inching across the grass, her fringe swaaaying. And she's hot in a totally different way from the guys.

Really. Unless all these dancers are married... there must be a little romance that follows the pow wow trail. Certainly Buffy Ste. Marie wrote one of my fave romances in a pow wow setting. ;-)

Studying race; and Powwows: Ur doing it wrong

So I'm back in research mode for the revision of my last novel. My protagonist is half Mohawk and half... Nuu-cha-nulth or Snuneymuxw. Thing is I know Nanaimo better, which is where the Snuneymuxw people are... so why did I choose Nuu-cha-nulth last time, who are further North around Port Alberni where I've never been? I don't know, I'm sure I had a reason, like maybe there was an online verbal dictionary. But there's one now, for the Halkomelem language. (I started this book in 2003, a lot's changed on the netserland.)

Anyway. So it's back to researching again, because there are new resources available. Such as Tumblr.

I remember reading once that in the race of facebook vs myspace, something interesting came out--that more African-Americans were using myspace. Well, I recently came across a whole bunch of Native American and some Canadian aboriginal Tumblr blogs. So I created a Tumblr blog for my book, in order to easily bookmark things.

And it means I'm back into reading race politics again. I'm reading a book about a guy who went back to live on his Six Nations reserve... well that's not a very political book, except about internal politics. But soon I'll be reading Writing the Other, which is considered The Book on writing... well, the other. And I'm reading and following all these aboriginal Tumblrs, so I find myself dancing off into various corners of the internet, following the trail of interesting stories.

Like this one, about five girls who showed up at a Powwow dressed like this:

A friend took the picture and sent it to a person who runs a blog on cultural appropriation. What shocked her in particular is that these girls were from a high school across from Stanford U where according to one commentor everyone is Crème de la crème politically correct (Eg. you don't pull this shit at Stanford U, whereas at McGill I'm sure the engineering students still party in fake dreadlocks and chief headdresses); and according to the blogger:

[Stanford] hosts the largest student run powwow in the nation for 39 years running, that is home to nearly 300 Native students, that has one of the strongest college Native communities in California

I've been suckered in, as usual, by the comments. A lot of the debate has devolved into whether it was okay to post the pic of the girls, mostly because the guy who took the photo tricked the girls into posing for it. (Instead of just taking a candid photo, which I assume would have by-passed all this "Hey that's not nice!" business, and re-focused everyone back on the real issue: WTF!!!)

Have you guys ever been to a powwow? There's one in Kahnawake each year, but I'm such a lazy-pants I never go! I'd like to make myself go this year. I promise to leave the hand-prints at home.