Costume or Regalia?

[WhoMe]

Ask most people under 30 if their dance cloths are their costume and they will tell you it is NOT a costume.

Ask someone who has danced all their lives, over 60, about the same subject and most will have no problem with it and may also refer to it as their "costume."

I have heard many people refer to their dance cloths as their "regalia." To me this is too regal and European sounding.

Personally, I refer to my dance cloths and as my powwow cloths, outfit or my "dance rig." I have a hard time not sayin' "costume" some time.

Now I know the different reasons for not referring to it as a costume. I would say those reasons are "politically correct."

What's your take on your dance cloths being called a costume or regalia?

If an elder refers to it as their costume, do you correct them?



Which came first .... the chicken or the egg? *L

[CandaePrincess]

I call em my indin clothes. And if someone looks at me and says something stupid like "aren't all your clothes indin clothes?" I just reply with silence.

Does it really matter? Sometimes I have a hard time not saying costume, but that's just me.

I don't have a problem telling people "DON'T TOUCH ME!" Why do some people feel the need to touch your indin clothes???? God that's irritating.

I think the real question we should be asking Who is...."what do you refer to your 49 gear as???" whayyyy

[~pathwalker~]

I call em my indin clothes. And if someone looks at me and says something stupid like "aren't all your clothes indin clothes?" I just reply with silence.

Does it really matter? Sometimes I have a hard time not saying costume, but that's just me.

I don't have a problem telling people "DON'T TOUCH ME!" Why do some people feel the need to touch your indin clothes???? God that's irritating.

I think the real question we should be asking Who is...."what do you refer to your 49 gear as???" whayyyy

Yur nutz! LMAO!

[WhoMe]

I call em my indin clothes. . .
Does it really matter? Sometimes I have a hard time not saying costume, but that's just me.

. . . Why do some people feel the need to touch your indin clothes???? God that's irritating.

Candae Cane,

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has trouble being politically correct! *L I grew up calling it my costume. In the last 15 years this has changed. But, old habits are still hard to break.

I agree with the touching of "what ever you call it." Old rich nonIndian women are the worse. They tend to think if you're in your Indian cloths, you're not real.


I just touch back! *LOL


__


PathW,

Please excuse her nuttyness. . .



She quit on the 2nd step of her 10-step recovery program!

[Wojapi4Me]

My dad is 74, a native speaker and honored elder of our tribe and he calls it a costume. I don't think too many people correct him.

When I'm in SD, I call it a costume...everywhere else I refer to it as an outfit so I avoid arguments with the ever-present Pow Wow PC Police. Our word for this is lakota wokoyake (basically tying Indian things on).

[Mato Winyan]

I don't really care what other people call their "ish" and dont' correct them......... I know what they are talking about so why make it an issue.
Now if they want to call MY stuff a costume........... then I may raise an eyebrow.

I call them dance clothes or outfit. Some times I've said regalia I noticed if I'm talking about sewing an outfit .....just depends. I think people from different areas call it different too. Never heard a northerner say "rig" unless they are talking about an 18 wheeler.

[ndngirl70]

I just call it my dance clothes or my outfit. I don't call it a costume or anything....too Halloweeny for me.....but if an elder wants to call it that I'm not going to tell them they can't.

[Ivanasnagu]

Well, my mom is in her 70's and she says COSTUME!! Hah! I have tried to get her to call them 'dance clothes'. That's what I call them. But she doesn't get it!! LMAO

[WhoMe]

. . .Never heard a northerner say "rig" unless they are talking about an 18 wheeler.

Mato,

I got my terminology "dance rig" from "a northerner!" *L He and his brother are credited with bringing the fancy dance to the north. He now lives in Regina, Saskatchewan.


Maybe he was talking about an 18-wheeler..... with feathers!

[andre]

Personally, since I run with the under thirty crowd, I don't say the dreaded "C" word in reference to anyone's anything unless it's Halloween. <-- See, I'm that scared of being punched!

[CandaePrincess]

I'm in the under 30 crowd. And I call it what I want. *L* And Who....I'll have you know since we last talked I'm up to STEP 4 Thank you very much.


got dangit

and when those nervy white people DO touch my chit, I usually lay into them and say something loud like ........
"GET OFF ME!!!!!!!!!!"

[n8tivechick]

I too am in the under 30 crowd and when this situation was ever brough up people think that it is so offensive to call it a costume. The way I was told was that a "costume" was when you dressed up as something that you are not, therefor that is were you get the situation on not calling it that. I am not the kind of person who gets totally offended when someone calls it a costume, Hey! there are people who don't know any better. But as for me, yes I would rather refer to it as regalia or just simply my jingle dress... But I don't take offence to any of them.
~Kelli

[Mato Winyan]

Mato,

I got my terminology "dance rig" from "a northerner!" *L He and his brother are credited with bringing the fancy dance to the north. He now lives in Regina, Saskatchewan.


Maybe he was talking about an 18-wheeler..... with feathers!

wow.

Maybe they were "locationally confused"! Ya know what ... if you talk to the right northerner they would tell ya fancy was a nothern thing that was spread south...... LMAO!! Guess it depends on who ya talk to.

[Chukchansi_Chick]

When I think of costume I think of disguises or pretending to be something i'm not. Like Halloween or something. When we have our dances the girls wear our dresses and the boys where their feathers. I can hear granma now and the other elders You girls get your dresses on! Boys where are your feathers rush!rush! I agree regalia sounds like a fancy word but then we aren't just any old culture we are regal.

[ettareena]

I don't dance at powwows. But I usually hear people say, "I'm going to go get dressed." Like they are naked. LOL My husband and I always laugh about this one M.C. who was calling for Grand Entry by say. "...get dressed out and parade in." Reminded us of getting "dressed out" for a gym.

But at home we say in english traditional clothes. Or we call it by its name in Navajo. "Are you wearing your Belth or Ke' ntsai." My grandma's (who only speak Navajo) will say "she is wearing her pretty clothes."

Nope, I would never correct an elder. And I don't call them "costumes" cuz I don't want to get hit either.