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What is powwow?
Powwow is an international gathering of indigenous people were we celebrate the coming together with song and dance. It is one of the most beautiful and memorable events you can partake in indigenous culture and learn from when you attend.
Powwow originally started when warriors returned to their tribes and tell stories through dance. It was dignified and proud and tell their story through the drum, they would tell this story on how they would sneak on their enemies and imitate their actions in battle.
This was originally for the men only, for the warriors that danced in the arbour and told their stories. But as time went on the women kept asking to participate, kept asking the elders and once they finally broke through it became a social gathering.
Soon the children were welcome and soon everyone gathered and shared stories and create bonds of tribes coming together. It was the perusing healthy life styles and taking advantage of healing, learning the teachings of how to treat each other.
And now powwow became an international event open to everyone to experience the dancing and songs in the arbour. It is quite similar to a fair or a rodeo where you would have other things happening on the outside of the event such as food vendors and art you can buy.
There is also powwows where everyone likes to go to, powwows that are well known and big almost every single year. And others are just are really beautiful and fun to experience and have an amazing community and scenery. Here are five powwows that you got to experience and enjoy, if your planning to experience a powwow for your first time then I recommended these ones to you.
Onion Lake Powwow
In Saskatchewan, Onion Lake almost has the biggest powwow in Canada with over five hundred dancers yearly. This powwow is huge and always has a lot of spectators during the time they host it, there is always Champion drums and Dancers and many vendors selling food and art.
The powwow usually happens in the mid month of July and it is welcome to any tourist that want to attend. This is a competitive style of event where dancers and drum groups gather and compete for prize money. Though that is not the whole reason for coming, it is also a way for people to gather and celebrate the joy of coming together.
The reason why people enjoy this powwow is because there is all of people that gather and meet familiar faces again and make new friends the whole weekend. Family always gather here and outside of the competition there is always laughs and love from everyone, this is a powwow that you need to check out and it is always good to support them.
Sampson Cree Nation Powwow
Another Large powwow with a lot of participants that come every year. This powwow comes in the Alberta province and has one of the most nicest areas for an arbour. The roads are paved around it and the arbour is large and open to fit hundreds of dancers.
This powwow also holds a lot of vendors and foods you can try while you spectate the dancers or take part in the intertribals that go on throughout the weekend. This is usually a powwow that starts around the earlier month of August and it is also one of the bigger powwows that happen in Canada.
This powwow is also a powwow you need to attend because of how nice the area actually is and it welcomes everyone who wants to experience this gathering. Many champion dancers and drum groups also come here as it is a powwow where people who compete can get known if they place here. I highly recommend that you also check out this powwow, the experience is also worth while.
Siksika Nation Powwow
Down in the Blackfoot nation in the southern parts of Alberta Siksika powwow is a unique powwow and mainly known for its popularity for chicken dancers. The day before the powwow begins, they host an event called the chicken world championship. This is where all chicken dancers around North America come at her and dance off in there age group and competent against each other.
This powwow has a beautiful arbour and its architecture is beautifully designed. This powwow also has a lot of gatherers that come from all over North America, especially all the chicken dancers and drums. There is always bound to have a chicken special in Siksika and drums that specialize in those songs, as always there is a lot of vendors that are placed around the arbour where you can also try foods from other places.
This Powwow has a beautiful area and the people that host it are just as amazing, I recommend going to this powwow especially if you’re a chicken dance fan. Im sure you can find many other enjoyments here and the take in the area where the arbour sits in.
Gathering Of Nations
In the area of Albuquerque New Mexico, there is a powwow that is well known to be as the world championships of Powwow community. Gathering of Nation is the biggest powwow in the world and almost has well over a thousand dancers every year. This is a place is where dancers and drummers come and compete against each other for the title of world champion.
This is one of the biggest powwows in the world, many people around North America and has always been one of the wonders to experience in indigenous culture. Many people from many nations gather and even tourist come to see just the beauty of many cultures and colours that fill up the floor.
For people who haven’t been to this powwow, I highly recommend this powwow, it is a new and different experience and it is out of this world fun. It offer unique foods in the states and there is many vendors presenting their unique skills and art. There is a lot of moments where you can make good friends with new people, enjoy the dancing and experience a indigenous event bigger than most concerts.
Powwow Times Powwow
A new and up and coming Powwow that is only three years old, Powwow Times powwow is a popular event that is hosted in the City of Red Deer Alberta. This powwow also hosts a unique event and is the one of the first powwows to bring it into the arbour. Powwow Times hosted a Cradle board special in honour of the motherhood in our indigenous culture and had well over thirty dancers that participated in the special and in the last grand entry of the weekend.
This powwow is held in the mid joints of October in the PeavyMart Centrum Arena and is also a popular gathering for the later days into the powwow season. Here is where a lot gather and get to experience the now annual event of the cradle board special, it also has good art from indigenous entrepreneurs that set up vender around the arena.
This powwow is a must see and provides a lot of education for the powwow gatherings and also hosts a youth day before the powwow starts. This is an event that happens the day before where 2500 kids from nearby school divisions come and experience indigenous events such as dance, songs, stories, and language.
I recommend this powwow because of its community, for a powwow that is still only three years old they have rack up numbers quickly. They welcome everyone and it is a good event to warm up to, it has good staff and volunteers that come from different parts of the world to help and support the Powwow Times community.
Conclusion
These are more of the bigger powwows and there is always other amazing powwows that you can explore with enough research. I hope that you are willing to attend on of these powwows as all of them are a fun event to experience and more importantly learn.
As powwows are ceremonial, they also welcome other people who are not indigenous to come and experience and enjoy what indigenous culture has to offer. These are just a fragment of powwows that happen through the year and I hope that you may attend others after experience these ones.
