Pow Wow

I am really starting to enjoy riding around on my bike and running errands. After I ran a bunch of errands I went to a pow wow that was happening in a city nearby. One of my students was dancing in the pow wow and invited me to check it out. I have never been to one before and it was pretty cool. Real mellow with people just hanging out. Different tribes had drumming groups and were doing their songs and dances.

I had spoken to this student before and she said that she danced fancy shawl style. I knew nothing about it so she told me that it came about from Hollywood and how they expected natives to dance but it got picked up by the natives. It was a pretty new style of dance in comparison to the traditional dances. She said that she really wanted to dance the grass dance but that it was culturally unacceptable for a girl to dance the grass dance.

Also at the pow wow was a two spirit table. This is like native american LGBT, except they are called two spirits. I am sure there is much more meaning behind it than what I am saying but that's the way that I was able to put it into perspective.

It was a trip to see one native in his full tribal wear with lots of American flag bandanas attached to him. I find it interesting that a Native American would be so nationalistic considering the history of the US and Native Americans, but to each their own.