Pow wow

Pow wow is this week and I am so excited! Most people go for the fancy dancers, if I were to say I did it would be the babies that are just learning the sacred dances that I would go for. They are so cute. Some of them have costumes that are bigger then they are! I do however love that some of our traditions are kept alive.

My very best childhood memories are of my Pappaw taking me to Pow wow and telling the stories. By telling the stories we keep our ancestors alive and with us. You almost never see a story-teller there any more (well unless you attend 5 Nations) but that is Florida. The Pow wow in Texas is only really the dance circuit, which is nice... but it is not anything near as grand as when I was little. Is anything ever as magical when you have grown? Lol

My daughter is a rabbit, a keeper of the stories... but many people would debate that if they saw her dance. She dances backwards... like a Heyoka... like a sacred clown. Last year at Pow wow I got the honor of watching her finally dance with our people. I finally felt that I really was a part of them. I have never felt that much before (you see my father was white.) I got to see her take her place among us. It was a moment that is so breath-ta kingly beautiful as can not be described by heavy-handed words... much like when you hold your new-born in your arms for the first time. THAT kind of perfect!

To hear the drums is another kind of magic... A sad one sometimes as well, because I can no longer dance with them. Last year my daughter offered to push my wheelchair up to the ring for the friendship dance, but I thought I would just be in the way so I declined. The sound of the drum is like the heartbeat of the people and it climbs inside you until all you want in the world is to dance, to live in that moment forever.

The smell of the fry bread, the beat of the drum, the dances of our people, the mini-tipis... even the vendors it all lends something to this time of year.

I would like to show you my daughter's sacred drum that the Medicine Man chose for her. It is painted with the White Buffalo by a shaman to represent her destiny. For more on the meaning Google Yellow Medicine Dancing Boy (last white buffalo calf born and they are so rare!) Also the skin of her drum is buffalo hide and so it carries the spirit and power of the buffalo in the drum's voice. I am very proud when we hold circle and she beats it to clear the negativity from the room and call us to order. (if she didn't do that me and Ruby would just have a joke telling marathon and maybe no prayer! Lol)

So here it is. Remember it is hand-made.