I just recently found this website and think there are a lot of helpful people out there; and I am hoping a few of them can help me out. So here is who I am and my situation. My name is Brandon and I am a career firefighter. I am 25 years old and am a very active guy. I was born into a wonderful family who helped raise me into the man I am today. The only thing that was lacking was a sense of where I came from. See my biological father left me and my mother before I even turned 1. And on top of that my mother was adopted as an infant. Now my adoptive grand parents (the family that adopted my mother) had informed me that while in the adoption process they met my mother’s mom and that she was Cherokee. They were not sure how much but were pretty certain it was a high percentage due to how she looked. Now I know not to stereotype and think any person with black hair and brown eyes with a medium dark skin complexion is Native American; but it is all I have to go on. This was a closed adoption and other then a few meetings with my mother’s mom (my biological grandmother) they had nothing else they could share. Her name was kept confidential and after my mother was adopted was never heard from again.
Growing up as a young boy I felt a connection with nature and always felt more at home in the wild then I did in any town or city. I started looking into how I could find my mother’s mom to try to prove or dispel that I was Native American but kept hitting walls everywhere I looked due to adoption laws. I decided to go another avenue and pursue native culture and see how it resonated with me. To my delight I felt more accepted in the Pow Wow circuit then I did in my own career. This to me said a lot seeing as being a firefighter you are part of a brotherhood.
So now I wish to take my experience in the Pow Wow circuit to the next level but seek guidance as I do not want to offend, encroach, or belittle anyone in the process. What I want to do is start dancing at Pow Wows. But I have many questions and want assistance before I do.
1) Is it wrong of me to want to start dancing even though I have no way to prove native roots?
2) Since I am not recognized by the federal government due to the adoption of my mother I cannot have eagle feathers for regalia. Will I be ridiculed or looked at as an amateur by using imitation feathers?
3) I want to learn how to fancy dance. Where would I go to learn fancy dancing? I live in Seattle and there are few annual Pow Wows up this way.
4) Are there certain colors I should or should not wear on my regalia? I know red and white are both good colors to the Cherokee meaning new beginnings and peace respectively. I also know that each clan of the Cherokee have a color too red being Wolf clan and white being Paint clan.
5) Are there any Cherokee out there that can assist me in any way possible?
Thanks for reading and I look forward to any and all feedback.
- Brandon
Growing up as a young boy I felt a connection with nature and always felt more at home in the wild then I did in any town or city. I started looking into how I could find my mother’s mom to try to prove or dispel that I was Native American but kept hitting walls everywhere I looked due to adoption laws. I decided to go another avenue and pursue native culture and see how it resonated with me. To my delight I felt more accepted in the Pow Wow circuit then I did in my own career. This to me said a lot seeing as being a firefighter you are part of a brotherhood.
So now I wish to take my experience in the Pow Wow circuit to the next level but seek guidance as I do not want to offend, encroach, or belittle anyone in the process. What I want to do is start dancing at Pow Wows. But I have many questions and want assistance before I do.
1) Is it wrong of me to want to start dancing even though I have no way to prove native roots?
2) Since I am not recognized by the federal government due to the adoption of my mother I cannot have eagle feathers for regalia. Will I be ridiculed or looked at as an amateur by using imitation feathers?
3) I want to learn how to fancy dance. Where would I go to learn fancy dancing? I live in Seattle and there are few annual Pow Wows up this way.
4) Are there certain colors I should or should not wear on my regalia? I know red and white are both good colors to the Cherokee meaning new beginnings and peace respectively. I also know that each clan of the Cherokee have a color too red being Wolf clan and white being Paint clan.
5) Are there any Cherokee out there that can assist me in any way possible?
Thanks for reading and I look forward to any and all feedback.
- Brandon
Comment