Smoke Signals
Smoke Signals
How do Native American tribes preserve their culture in contemporary America
The 19th Annual Winter Pow Wow took place in Wisconsin State Fair Park, WI on March 6th and 7th and was organized by Indian Summer Festival Incorporated. “We are so spread out and that’s why we have Indian summer, a place where we can all get together,” said Carla Menominee, Board of Directors of Indian Summer Festival.
There are 569 Native American tribes, all of them different and unique in their own way. Most of these tribes have different languages, traditions and cultural habits, but the one thing that unites them is their desire to preserve their cultural values through the sacredness of the Pow Wow. The 19th Annual Winter Pow Wow took place in Wisconsin State Fair Park, WI on March 6th and was organized by Indian Summer Festival Incorporated.
Father and son from the Cree tribe enter the circle to take part of the 19th Annual Winter Pow Wow in Wisconsin.
Usually a Pow Wow is set up in a circle with the drummers in the middle. The event begins with the so called ceremony Grand Entry, in which all dancers enter the circle led by representatives of different tribes carrying their flags and a Native American veteran who carries the American Flag. After that the Pow Wow is officially open and all people start dancing in the circle moving clockwise.
Nearly every Native American tribe had its own distinctive style of dress, and the people could often tell each other's tribal identities by looking at their clothes, headdresses, and ornamentation.
“The Pow Wow is very important for us because it is the place where we come together and share our culture and traditions,” said Carla Menominee, Board of Directors of Indian Summer. “That is why our missions as an organization are to educate the public about Indian American culture and also to make sure that we have a venue for our community to come together.”
Mary Greendeer, 88 who now lives in the Reservation of the Oneida tribe in Wisconsin has dedicated her life to the preservation of her culture. Back in the early 1950’s she lived in Chicago and has fought for the establishment of The American Indian Center in Chicago. Her husband Frederik Greendeer from the Ho-Chunk tribe has also been an active member of the community and was personally honored by President Richard Nixon. Today she thinks that the Pow Wow is even more important for her community, “Our children live in big cities and go to non-Indian schools. They don’t pay much attention to what we tell them and soon they forget our traditions,” Mrs. Greendeer said.
Because the The Bald Eagle and the Golden Eagle are extinct specimens, possession of their feathers on the territory of the US is illegal. Indian American people are the only community that has the legal right to possess these feathers, in order to practice their rituals and traditions.
David Gutierrez, 50 is originally from Mexico. Even though he is not Native American he is inspired by the culture and is regularly taking part in Pow Wows. “When I moved to Wisconsin, I was fascinated from the work of Wisconsin Dance Studios and that is how I started practicing Native American tribal dancing,” Gutierrez said.
- “The eagle is a sacred bird in our culture,” said Lolly Aguibir, 40 from the Ojibwe tribe in Texas, New Mexico. “We believe that the eagle is the bird that can fly the highest, and when we pray, it takes our prayers up in the sky.” That is why Mrs. Aguibir and her husband set up a family business which produce feather holders that protect feathers from harming.
Women from the Wisconsin Pink Shawl Initiative took part of the Pow Wow. “The Wisconsin Pink Shawl Initiative is established to raise awareness and educate the American Indian community and people worldwide about breast cancer,” said Anna Padron a representative of the organization.
Mary Greendeer,88 , from the Oneida tribe with her husband’s head dress. “ I think that the basic value Indian American people have is their dedication to their families and the community”, Mrs. Greendeer said.
Vanny Wheelock, 44 from Greenbay, WI watches dancers from different tribes perform with her grand daughter, Osa Florse, 2. “For me, Pow Wow is an opportunity to get together with my family and friends so we can practice our traditions and pass them to the next generation,” Wheelock said.
Another significant member of the community, Irene Bedard, who was the voice behind the Disney character Pocahontas is concerned about the languages of her community. “I think that there is a lot of work that needs to be done in order to keep our culture alive, but definitely the number one priority should be our languages, which are mostly spoken in the reservations,” Bedard said. Carla Menominee is concerned about language preservation too, “Only for the State of Wisconsin we have eleven federally recognized tribes and each tribe has its own language,” she explained.
Talissa Prude, 4 from the Menominee tribe lives in Milwaukee, WI with her family. Her mother started teaching her the language of her tribe when she was two years old. “ I want her to grow up knowing our language and traditions, so she can know her roots,” her mother, Mrs. Prude said.
William Boulware is a professor in Federal Indian Law at Chicago-Kent Law School and Executive Director of Native Land Development Company which is a commercial real estate development firm specializing in Native American Land development. He has also worked as an attorney for the Oneida and Ho-Chunk tribes.
Contemplating about the future of the Indian American culture he finds a correlation in the history of the United States. “My impression of the Indian American people is a reflection of the history of this country and their ability to be self sufficient, “ Boulware said. “If you look at the history of the United States, it is a country that basically pursued genocide. Sometimes deliberately, sometimes accidental because there was an attempt for Indian American’s population to be assimilated from what was colonial America.”
Now he thinks that Native American tribes are diligently focused on their future, “I think that tribal governments are trying to re-establish themselves and are working in the direction to re-assert their sovereignty.”
What is interesting is that, there are certain federal laws from a legal standpoint that view tribes differently from other communities. Tribes themselves are an individual government. “There is racial classification known as Native Americans but when it comes to dealing with the law they are a political entity, not a racial entity, “ William Boulware explained. “The genesis of the political nature comes from the fact that there are all these treaties signed by the US government with the individual tribes, or a collective groups of tribes, that give the right of tribes to reserve certain things for themselves.”
Because the Native American community in the US is a minority, there are some special laws concerning the practice of their culture. For example, only Indian Americans have the right to possess an eagle feather. Because the eagle is an extinct specimen, possession of its feathers is illegal. In their culture the eagle is a sacred bird. It is believed that this is the bird that can fly the highest and when Native American people pray, the eagle takes their prayers up in the sky.
To listen to an interview with William Boulware, professor of Federal Indian Law at Chicago-Kent Law School, about the relationship between Native American tribes and the US government, click here.
To watch a video from the Pow Wow, click here.
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