Native American culture and dance highlight annual powwow
Thirty-three years ago, Native American students at USU felt the need to educate and raise awareness of their culture. Although the powwow itself was originally started by the Plains Indians’ medicine men who performed sacred rituals, the students built on the idea until it included not only the rituals, but also dancing and socializing with friends and family.
For the rest of Utah State University, the powwow is meant to showcase Native American culture.
The 33rd Annual Native American powwow will be held Friday and Saturday, March 3-4 in the Nelson Fieldhouse. General admission is $3, but senior citizens and USU students with a valid ID get in for $2. Admission for children under 4 is free.
Sam Curley, Native American Outreach Services Coordinator for USU, says the event is entirely planned by the Native American Student Coucil.
“They sponsor it and find the head staff, spiritual leader, arena director, the Air Force ROTC, and the Head Man and Woman who represent USU and their respective tribes,” Curley said.
Events at the powwow include arts and crafts booths, a food booth featuring fry bread and tacos, and a traditional Native American dance competition.
Dancers choose to dance either traditional style, fancy style, or grass or jingle styles. Dancers can register for a $5 fee. Judges look for the precision of footwork, and the upper body movement. There are many divisions and age groups dancers can compete in. Traditional clothing styles involve classic, buckskin outfits with beadwork and sacred eagle feathers. All of the costumes, or Regalia, are handmade by the contestants. Some of the Regalia components are hard to find or restricted, such as the eagle feathers which can only be obtained by a Native American registering through the Forest Service. The Spiritual Leader blesses these sacred feathers if they happen to fall to the ground during the competition.
Traditional dance styles involve feather ruffles on both the clothing and headdress. The women carry shawls. In one dance, women try to imitate the butterfly. In the grass dance, only for men, the music is slower and the goal is to imitate the gracefully flowing grasses on the plains.
The dancers compete to live music, provided by different groups of drummers.
“The drummers in the powwow circuit share what they’ve learned with each other and their knowledge is passed from group to group or, if it’s a family group, from generation to generation,” Curley said.
Beyond the cultural prize, there is an added incentive in winning the competition.
“A few years ago the council offered a scholarship to the winner of the teen and boys divisions,” Curley said, “and this year they’d like to offer that again.” In order to receive and maintain the scholarship, the winner must also have a 3.0 High School G.P.A., a High School diploma, an ACT score of 22 or higher, and must be a student on the Logan USU campus. Each scholarship is good for either four years or eight semesters, whichever comes first. Six scholarships will be given this year.
The event will also honor Dr. Juan Franco “for his many achievements in the short time he’s been at Utah State,” Curley said.
Curley said these achievements include working with the Daniel’s Foundation to bring about scholarships for Native American students and the college preparation fund, also run through Daniels.
“We see a mixture of people here. The dancers and drummers bring their family and friends. But it’s great for anyone curious about the culture and want to know more, or who wants to see more of the culture and how the Native Americans are today,” Curley said. “This wouldn’t be possible without the great support of the other departments. This is a huge event, and we have to use so much housing and food services and parking for all the visitors. Without financial or in kind donations, this would be impossible.
-limarc@cc.usu.edu