Historical Aspects Of Native American Pow Wows

By Laura Butler


Different Native American tribes first became distinguished by the United States during the mid-1800s. Since that time, the public has become more aware of Native culture and different tribes. In most cases, this public awareness has come about thanks to the many Native american pow wows which take place in different regions on an annual basis.

Public dances were often the primary aspects of the first pow wows which resemble gatherings now taking place. These events were a common practice in the Great Plains area of the United States, with most gatherings taking place during the late 19th and early 20th century. It was a challenging time for the tribes as the United States had torn apart many Native American communities in hopes of acquiring land for capitalist and economic exploitation.

While laws were created to limit these celebrations by Native American communities, many tribes continued to gather together to practice cultural aspects of the tribes in secret. As a result, new pow wows began taking place in the Great Lakes region by the 19th century. After which, the celebrations began to spread across the United States with different tribes celebrating and holding pow wows on an annual basis.

Planning and organizing this type of event often begins several months up to a year before an event. In most cases, a organizational and planning committee consist of tribal leaders. Whereas, sponsors often include Native American clubs, communities, organizations and Native American Studies programs at different colleges and universities.

Committees often consist of several individuals whom pre-plan the event in entirety. After which, the committee then begins to organize different aspects of the pow-wow. Most importantly, the committee is responsible for hiring staff, securing a location, recruiting vendors, organizing volunteers and publicizing the event.

Staff are the people whom run the gathering on a day to day basis during the event. These individuals are often hired by the committee several months in advance in order to assure staff receives the proper training and that individuals can handle the work load. For, the quality of staff each year can often play an integral role in the attendance at future events.

While most of these events have an arena director whom works to assure all goes well during the gathering, not all events have an assistant director. When this is the case, the arena director also takes on the role of the assistant which works to assure all ceremonies, dances and other aspects of the gathering go as planned.

In the case of gatherings which host contests, most of the events have someone other than the arena director act as the primary judge. Whereas, the arena director is in charge of organizing any ceremonies such as eagle feather dropping, marriage ceremonies, rites of passage and others.




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