Sept 1: Faces of the Nations
A pow wow is a social gathering held by many different Native American communities. A modern pow wow is a specific type of event for Native American people to meet and dance, sing, socialize, and honor their cultures.
Pow wows may be private or public. There is generally a dancing competition, with many different types of traditional dances, music and regalia, often with significant prize money awarded. Pow wows vary in length from a one-day event, to major pow wows called for a special occasion which can be up to one weeklong.
You may have missed it but the 33rd Annual Kee-Boon-Mein-Kaa Pow Wow was held over the Labor Day Weekend at the Rodgers Lake Campus in Dowagiac, Michigan.
This event is considered a traditional pow wow. The Band’s long-running Kee-Boon-Mein-Kaa Pow Wow during Labor Day weekend is a contest pow wow, where dancers compete before judges in different categories. A traditional pow wow is a lower-key event focused on bringing the community together.
The 10th Annual Oshke Kno Kewéwen Traditional Pow Wow was also held at the Rodgers Lake Campus on May 25-26.
Oshke-Kno-Kewéwen in the Potawatomi language refers to a new eagle staff, which is much like a national flag. The Pokagon Band veterans constructed two eagle staffs, which hold dozens of eagle feathers, each representing a tribal family. This pow wow honors the staffs and the hundreds of Pokagon veterans and past tribal leaders represented on it.
Part family reunion, part traditional ceremony, the Oshke Kno Kewewen Traditional Pow Wow is a time for native people to celebrate their identity and to visit and share with their friends in the greater community and for traditional drum groups to sing their songs, for tribal dancers to perform their steps, and for craftsmen and women to display their handiwork.
There was no entry fee and it was open to the general public. If you have never been to the “Kee-Boon-Mein-Kaa Pow Wow” put the Labor Day event on your “list of things to do” I think you will find it very enjoyable and educational. Here are a few Faces of the Nations.
Here are the Faces of the Nation:
