| Field Trip: |
Auburn Pow-wow |
| Trip Date: |
October 17, 2009 |
| Report Author: |
Scott Hinrichs |
| Report Date: |
October 21, 2009 |
Three persons assembled into a carpool and drove three hours to the
Auburn Big Time and Pow-wow on Saturday, October 17 in California Gold
Country just east of Sacramento.
All I can say is: Wow! This was a very interesting, colorful and
entertaining event. I planned to stay only two or three hours. (This
was based on my estimate of the patience of my colleagues - I figured I'd
wait until they got restless and then beg another half hour out of
them!) But it almost turned out that I was to be the one who had to beg
the others to leave! If it hadn't been for an unexpected migrane
headache brought about by the hot sun, we probably would have stayed
well past the dinner hour.
Most pow-wows follow a somewhat standard itinerary, but some tend to be
kind of unpredictable events. Some have sketchy dates because
participants just show up within a general period of time while others
are well organized.
Pow-wows are generally held in a large public area, and the Auburn
Fairgrounds was the perfect spot for this one! Pow-wows are events that
center upon communal drumming and dancing - dances are spiritual as well
as competitive. The dances take place in a designated circle (sometimes
more than one circle) at the center of the event, while everything else
becomes a satellite of the dance events - food, crafts, social service
outreach tents, etc. The drums and dancers are all important. The drum
(usually played by a group) is considered an honored person at the
event. (You should never mess with a drum at a
pow-wow!) The group that plays the drum for the event is called the
"Host Drum," and the drum group that plays for the Gourd Dance is
called the "Southern Drum."
Besides the drumming and dancing, many other traditions are observed at
a pow-wow. Dancers always enter the dance circle from the east - great
attention is paid to the symbolic four points of the compass. The dance
circle is an endless circle,a symbol of the way life continues
unbroken - nearly every detail of the event is significant and symbolic.
The pow-wow is a fascinating look into the numerous cultures that
predated our various immigrant cultures of the United States. In fact,
the reason that pow-wows are open to the public is to promote a better
understanding of the native culture, and that's a good thing. Even
though most of the tribes of the Americas got a raw deal over the past
few centuries, (some were wiped out
entirely) their dance, music and art still survive. They told us that
they allowed us to photograph as a way to help preserve some of their
traditions.
The Auburn dance circle was the perfect size for this event and made it
a large but intimate event. It allowed plenty of room for the dancers,
involved the spectators and gave us outsiders the feeling that we were
welcome in this mostly Native American activity. Sometimes if the dance
circle is too large you can feel fairly isolated and the photo
opportunities are sparse, but kudos to the Auburn organizing committee,
which created a gem of an event!
Most of the dancing was open to photography, save for a few dances
performed by the native California Miwok Tribe and the Kiowas from
Oklahoma. (Their dances were strictly off limits to photography, and we
complied with their
wishes.) Photographing at a pow-wow is the equivalent of taking
pictures during a church service or taking a camera to a temple. It
requires a lot of sensitivity to the hosts' requirements on the part of
the photographer. The organizers of this pow-wow, however, were
relatively generous to the still photographers in attendance. Those
shooting videos or shooting images intended for commercial uses,
however, were strongly discouraged - and recording of video images was
prohibited altogether.
The word pow-wow comes from the Narrangansett word for spiritual
leader. The Narrangansett Tribe had occupied the Rhode Island area of
New England for 30,000 years and is part of the Algonquin Language
group. The name came from the East Coast, but most of the activities at
a pow-wow, the drumming, the dress, the style of dancing and some of
the songs were heavily influenced by the Native Americans of the Great
Plains of the US and Canada. (There were Kiowas from Oklahoma at this
particular pow-wow.)
Modern Native American dress has evolved from its earlier
manifestations a hundred or more years ago. The traditional colors of
nature (many of them quite bright - reds, blues, yellows, etc.) having
been supplanted by the "Day Glow" hues of recent times. Even the
traditional dancers of Hawaii, New Zealand, Tahiti, and other cultures
have incorporated these brighter colors into their dances. As a
photographer, I shouldn't whimper because it certainly makes for even
more colorful events! (But I wish I could see them wear their original
colors of a century ago.)
We saw many different dances, including several traditional dances from
the Miwoks, a Kiowa Gourd Dance (outlawed by the US government in the
late 1800s) as well as the competitive dances: men's and women's fancy
dancers, women's jingle dancers, etc. Dancers ranging in age from
babies to 90-year-olds entered the dance circle. Everyone at the event
was invited to dance during the "Intertribal" dance, where tribal and
non-tribal dancers make their way around the circle. The intertribal
dance is the only time that non-Indians are welcome in the dance circle.
The event was kicked off by a traditional ceremony and blessing called
the Grand Entry, led by a well-ordered heirarchy that includes the head
male dancer and the head female dancer and tribal officials. Native
American veterans carried the colors - flags of the United States and
other flags, including the standards of some of the visiting tribes.
Soon after the Grand Entry began, the circle was swarming with colorful
dancers - truly a spectacular show for our cameras. (Some pow-wows won't
let you shoot the opening ceremonies, so we considered ourselves quite
fortunate.)
The second half of this trip never materialized - a visit to Locke,
California, a Chinese-built town on the Sacramento River in the Delta.
Oh, well, the pow-wow pretty much overpowered everything else - once
again providence came through with a wonderful surprise. (We'll put
Locke back on the schedule for a future trip.) We wish that most of you
could have joined us on this most unexpectedly magical of trips!
© 2009 S.R. Hinrichs
|