Mothers present at the Native American Student Union’s annual powwow Saturday were called forward to encircle the floor of McArthur Court. Group members presented them with jewelry, and the eldest woman was summoned for special honor.
As drums and singing of ancient songs swelled, hundreds of mothers danced around the court, and men, children and audience members flooded into the circle, dancing opposite the women and shaking each of their hands.
Hundreds of people from many different cultures, including Native Americans from different groups, came to the University for an all-day celebration of the 37th Annual Mother’s Day Pow-Wow. NASU presented the event in honor of Dwight Souers, a high school teacher and member of the Lakota tribe who died recently.
The event ran in Mac Court from noon until 5 p.m., when it moved to the Many Nations Longhouse on campus for a traditional smoked salmon dinner before participants returned to Mac Court for more dancing.
Chet Clark, an elder Navajo who drummed, danced and gave an invocation, said attendees came to dance and pray, to renew life and to make them feel better again.
“We dance for our people, not so much as ourselves,” Clark said. “For some of us, we do singing and praying every day.”
Some people dressed in traditional powwow regalia.
Montee Nelson, a northern-style, traditional dancer of the Colville tribe, wore a vibrant red and orange ensemble covered in elaborate bead designs. On his back he wore wings made of long eagle feathers called an eagle bustle. He had white painted stripes down his cheeks, black around his mouth and a cross in black along his eyebrows and down his nose.
“A lot of our traditions are dying out,” he said. “The only kind of real tradition we have left is the powwow.”
Natasha Joseph, co-director of NASU, said the powwow is a “cultural survival tool.”
“We have to live within another culture,” she said.
David West, director of the Native American Studies program at Southern Oregon University, noted the political aspects of the powwow.
“We don’t believe that we’re minorities; we’re sovereign nations,” he said.
West said the powwow gave Native Americans opportunities to speak about the issues of access to education and vocational training, high-risk poverty and substance abuse confronting the community.
The powwow “strengthens my optimism and my hope and prayers for the seventh generation,” West said. “Most natives believe that what we do will have a benefit on seven generations from today.”