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Went to my first PowWow yesterday, (Saturday). Thought I'd tell you all what I thought about it. It was in TN, and I'm not going to say exactly where, because I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings in case they are on here too, but I must say that I was a bit disappointed. Part of that may have been my fault, since I didn't get to go on Friday, and Saturday, but I don'yt think so.
First off, I missed Grand Entry, because my dh & I decided to ride there on the bike, and TN has a helmet law. Well, we've done it before with no helmets, but of course this time, we got pulled over as soon as we hit the 1st town, lol. The TN state trooper that pulled us over said, "Where are ya'll from?"
I was like, "Kentucky". Duh.
Then he goes, "Where in KY?"
I said where, then he says, "You guys live close enough to TN to know that ya'll have to wear helmets. Where are ya'll headed?"
My dh & me both said, "To the PowWow", to which the trooper said, "What kind of a powwow?"
I just looked at him like, wtf?
Anyhow, after that, I really didn't say much, because that was just the stupidest question I ever heard! What did he mean, what kind of PowWow? I wanted to say, Intertribal, no competition, LOL!
So we ended up with a $165 fine, and we went back home the 40 miles, where I suggested we go back in the car.
So we were late.
When we finally made it, I was real excited to actually be there. I could hear the flute from over the hill, even though I couldn't see anything. It was in a beautiful spot, overlooking the water, but the first thing I noticed was that there weren't very many people there.
I kind of expected that, because where we live, there isn't much interest in such things, so it wasn't surprising. There was a guy telling some stories and playing the flute, and he was really good, so we walked around listening to that while we looked in the vendor booths.
They started some kids dances, but it was like dances for any kids, not just dancers, and it didn't seem like they were really dancing at all, they were mainly walking around the circle.
Then they finally had what they called an Intertribal, and all of the dancers, men & women, went into the circle. There were some that were actually dancing, and they were good. Then there were some others, who were the majority, and I don't know how NDN they were, but most of them loked like they weren't any more NDN than I am, and they weren't really even dancing!! They were doing like the kids were, just walking around, moving their feet a little.
I do have to say that there were two guys and two girls dancing that were actually NDN, and they were REALLY dancing, and they were wonderful and I just about teared up, but I had on sunglasses, so it was cool, LOL.
There were a couple more dances, but I must have missed the ones I wanted to see or something, because they called for Men's Fancy, and nobody came to the circle. Then they called Men's Straight, but again, nobody came to the circle. So they called Women's Shawl, and the two girls that did the real dancing before danced, and some white girls danced too, but they just looked sort of dumb. Maybe I just expected something different, but I was not expecting to see so many white people dressed in regalia.
One thing that was so stupid I almost busted out laughing was this: In front of us was this white family - mom, dad, this HUGE teenage daughter. The daughter had purchased a turkey-feather fan, and was fanning herself with it. When they decided to leave, the mom said, "Where did you put your feather?"
The daughter, who had put her 'feather' in her fanny pack, says, "I put it in here, I want the spirits to stay with me."!!!
I just about fell out of the chair! I couldn't believe she actually said that!
So, anyway, I guess I missed all of the dancing I wanted to see, or else there just weren't enough people to do them, I don't know.
We ended up walking around the vendors again, I got a taco, which was pretty good, except they were out of cheese, LOL! I bought a pair of earrings from an elder who was on oxygen, they are beaded owls. Kinda cute.
I think that the 'tribes' represented there were supposedly Cherokee & Choctaw. There was an older lady, (Choctaw), selling things at a booth, and I think her twin sister at another one. Here's another funny one - when I was at the 2nd lady's booth, a chick came up beside me and asked the price of a necklace. It was pretty, beaded in pink & white. The lady said, $5, which sounded good to me, but this chick walked off from it, like it was too expensive. Then, this chick and her fat sister looked up and saw those roach clip things with the feathers hanging down. She goes, "How much are these?" The lady says, "$1". Then both of these chicks are like, "$1!!!", so that's what they bought! The two Choctaw ladies then began having a few words to each other in their own language, LOL, all the time watching the 2 fat white chicks walk off with their stupid roach clips, ROFL!!! I can just imagine what they were talking about, lol.
OK, didn't mean to make this so long. I just don't know if I want to go to any more PowWows that aren't out West. I was hoping to see something beautiful. Instead, I kept seeing that the dancers didn't look much like they wanted to be there, one was chewing gum in the circle!!! Is that right? Didn't seem like something one should do in the circle.
OK, so you guys tell me, was I expecting too much, or was this PowWow an embarrassment to PowWows everywhere?
I wanna hear anything you all have to say about it.
First off, I missed Grand Entry, because my dh & I decided to ride there on the bike, and TN has a helmet law. Well, we've done it before with no helmets, but of course this time, we got pulled over as soon as we hit the 1st town, lol. The TN state trooper that pulled us over said, "Where are ya'll from?"
I was like, "Kentucky". Duh.
Then he goes, "Where in KY?"
I said where, then he says, "You guys live close enough to TN to know that ya'll have to wear helmets. Where are ya'll headed?"
My dh & me both said, "To the PowWow", to which the trooper said, "What kind of a powwow?"
I just looked at him like, wtf?
Anyhow, after that, I really didn't say much, because that was just the stupidest question I ever heard! What did he mean, what kind of PowWow? I wanted to say, Intertribal, no competition, LOL!
So we ended up with a $165 fine, and we went back home the 40 miles, where I suggested we go back in the car.
So we were late.
When we finally made it, I was real excited to actually be there. I could hear the flute from over the hill, even though I couldn't see anything. It was in a beautiful spot, overlooking the water, but the first thing I noticed was that there weren't very many people there.
I kind of expected that, because where we live, there isn't much interest in such things, so it wasn't surprising. There was a guy telling some stories and playing the flute, and he was really good, so we walked around listening to that while we looked in the vendor booths.
They started some kids dances, but it was like dances for any kids, not just dancers, and it didn't seem like they were really dancing at all, they were mainly walking around the circle.
Then they finally had what they called an Intertribal, and all of the dancers, men & women, went into the circle. There were some that were actually dancing, and they were good. Then there were some others, who were the majority, and I don't know how NDN they were, but most of them loked like they weren't any more NDN than I am, and they weren't really even dancing!! They were doing like the kids were, just walking around, moving their feet a little.
I do have to say that there were two guys and two girls dancing that were actually NDN, and they were REALLY dancing, and they were wonderful and I just about teared up, but I had on sunglasses, so it was cool, LOL.
There were a couple more dances, but I must have missed the ones I wanted to see or something, because they called for Men's Fancy, and nobody came to the circle. Then they called Men's Straight, but again, nobody came to the circle. So they called Women's Shawl, and the two girls that did the real dancing before danced, and some white girls danced too, but they just looked sort of dumb. Maybe I just expected something different, but I was not expecting to see so many white people dressed in regalia.
One thing that was so stupid I almost busted out laughing was this: In front of us was this white family - mom, dad, this HUGE teenage daughter. The daughter had purchased a turkey-feather fan, and was fanning herself with it. When they decided to leave, the mom said, "Where did you put your feather?"
The daughter, who had put her 'feather' in her fanny pack, says, "I put it in here, I want the spirits to stay with me."!!!
I just about fell out of the chair! I couldn't believe she actually said that!
So, anyway, I guess I missed all of the dancing I wanted to see, or else there just weren't enough people to do them, I don't know.
We ended up walking around the vendors again, I got a taco, which was pretty good, except they were out of cheese, LOL! I bought a pair of earrings from an elder who was on oxygen, they are beaded owls. Kinda cute.
I think that the 'tribes' represented there were supposedly Cherokee & Choctaw. There was an older lady, (Choctaw), selling things at a booth, and I think her twin sister at another one. Here's another funny one - when I was at the 2nd lady's booth, a chick came up beside me and asked the price of a necklace. It was pretty, beaded in pink & white. The lady said, $5, which sounded good to me, but this chick walked off from it, like it was too expensive. Then, this chick and her fat sister looked up and saw those roach clip things with the feathers hanging down. She goes, "How much are these?" The lady says, "$1". Then both of these chicks are like, "$1!!!", so that's what they bought! The two Choctaw ladies then began having a few words to each other in their own language, LOL, all the time watching the 2 fat white chicks walk off with their stupid roach clips, ROFL!!! I can just imagine what they were talking about, lol.
OK, didn't mean to make this so long. I just don't know if I want to go to any more PowWows that aren't out West. I was hoping to see something beautiful. Instead, I kept seeing that the dancers didn't look much like they wanted to be there, one was chewing gum in the circle!!! Is that right? Didn't seem like something one should do in the circle.
OK, so you guys tell me, was I expecting too much, or was this PowWow an embarrassment to PowWows everywhere?
I wanna hear anything you all have to say about it.
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