Artist(s): not known
Genre(s): dance, visual arts
Medium/Media: pow wow dancing, clothing
Material(s): feathers, yarn, satin, beads, fur
Technique(s): beading, appliquŽ, featherwork
Dimensions:
Date made: ca. 1990
Where made: Great Lakes region
Where used/performed: Sault Ste. Marie Tribal National Assembly, 14th Annual Traditional Pow Wow and Spiritual Conference, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, 1996
In whose collection: Private collection
Collection# (s):
Photograph of work by: Minnie Wabanimkee
Rights to photograph courtesy of: Michigan State University Museum

On nearly every weekend throughout the year pow wows1 are being held somewhere. Venues are most often on reservations, but city parks, college campuses, basketball and hockey arenas, museums, festival and fairgrounds, shopping malls, and a wide variety of other settings are used by Native Americans who have migrated into urban areas. Some families follow the "Pow Wow Highway" by going from one pow wow to the next every weekend; some travel to only pow wows close to home, others crisscross the country.

Spiritually, pow wows provide a communal occasion for Indian people to celebrate life and give thanks for the many gifts bestowed upon them by Grandfather/Githe Manitou/Creator/God through Mother Earth. Socially, pow wows are often the public forum at which ceremonies associated with rites of passage are observed: deaths are announced and the deceased remembered; names are given to individuals and noted and celebrated; birthdays are celebrated; and eagle feathers are passed. Pow wows serve as a means for Indian people to meet new people, renew old friendships, and share news and information.

Culturally, pow wows provide a means to pass on traditional language, song, dance, crafts, and other customs. Economically, pow wows allow the Native American community a mechanism for selling foods and crafts and for monetarily rewarding traditional dancers, singers, and artisans. In short, a pow wow is a time and place to honor the past and community members, to celebrate life and creation, to give thanks, to enjoy the company of family and friends, and for elders to pass their knowledge on to youth.

-- (Arnie Parish and Marsha MacDowell in Marsha MacDowell, ed. Contemporary Great Lakes Pow Wow Regalia: "Nda Maamawigaami (Together We Dance)". East Lansing, Michigan: Michigan State University Museum in collaboration with the Nokomis Learning Center, 1997)