And yes at last we were on
the way to the Pow Wow and I got lots of photo opportunities. This
Pow Wow I'm told is one of the last traditional ones in that people come
to participate just for the sheer pleasure of doing so and not to make
money as is the case at others. I'm told that many Pow Wow's offer quite
large sums in prizes so many go to compete and make money.
OK now I've never been to a Pow Wow before but
there was one long wall where anyone could site on the benches provided
and then along the other walls seemed to be family groups. Along the far
wall the groups there also has drums. At the top of hall was the
Master of Ceremonies. When inside you were expected to take off your hat
unless it had a feather in it. As you can see from the last picture the
initial entrace was due to be made.
Now at the time I didn't actually notice that
the family groups raised their right hand in salute? but it shows in these
pictures
Clearly everyone could join in and you didn't
need to be dressed up to do so
I popped in and out looking to try and give an
appreciation of everything at the Pow Wow
The group on the right were beating the drums
Pity I couldn't have
recorded some of the music and drums but I did find a couple of web sites
that let you hear some of what it is like...
Earth Songs
and
Indian House
I would just say that where I took a photo of
an individual I did ask their permission
Here is another link to some
recordings...
Kiowa Gourd Dance Songs
I decided to take a few photos of pictures on
the wall :-)
You can see the kids are enjoying themselves
:-)
This was really agressive drum music and lots
had gathered around them to enjoy it
Great attention is given to both front and
back of the costime
And many thanks to this family group for
posing for the camera
I was told this headress came from the Dog
Soldiers
I understand this was the shawl dance
The winner was the one on the right of the
picture
And just as we leaving Verna appeared with her
son. And that concluded our visit to the Pow Wow which was going to
go on late into the night. I had a most enjoyable time and the drums
were fantastic as was the dancing.
And so now it's onto the
final part of this day where I took some pictures heading back toward
Kimberley whuch you can see in Part 4. |