Even from outside McArthur Court the sound of drums could be heard as dancers in the Native American Student Union’s 33rd annual spring pow wow prepared for their entrance on Saturday night.
Inside, pow wow emcee David West began the introductions for the 7 p.m. grand entry, one of three times during the weekend-long event when dancing took place.
“It’s a good day to live, a good day to dance,” he said. “Let’s pow wow.”
Pow wow, a term that is thought to have originated with the Algonquin tribe, once indicated a gathering of people who came together to celebrate a victory or another important event. Today, NASU member Misty Moceikis said pow wows are still “a kind of gathering,” but rather than serving to celebrate a particular event, they are a time to socialize and re-kindle old friendships.
“It’s an opportunity to see people you haven’t seen in a while,” she said.
NASU puts on a pow wow in the fall and in the spring every year. The group is also active in fundraising, and this year, the students held a protest in the EMU Amphitheater as part of “Anti-Columbus Day” event.
A steady stream of people came and went during the pow wow, with as many as 200 people in the audience during grand entry times, held twice on Saturday, and once on Sunday.
Many in the audience, which included students and community members, came from all over the Northwest to attend, Moceikis said.
Pow wows are put on throughout the year by various Native American groups, and often the same people attend these pow wows, especially those held in their local area, NASU member Jana Schmieding said. Because of this, those who attend regularly have formed a close knit community, she said.
“You end up building these huge, extended families,” she said.
Dancers of all ages competed in a variety of categories based on age, gender and style of dance. Fancy, traditional, jingle and grass dances were performed, each representing a different style and time period, Schmieding said. Winners received NASU T-shirts, jackets or cash awards depending on the category they competed in.
The traditional dance is the oldest style, and the men’s traditional dance is the most respected in the dance circle, she said. Grass dancing originated in the plains, Schmieding said, when dancers would stomp down the grass so that ceremonies could be held.
Fancy and jingle dancing are more fast-paced, contemporary styles of dance, she said. In jingle dancing, women wear dresses with 365 rolled up, silver tobacco can lids attached. Each one of those lids is meant to symbolize a day of sobriety, Schmieding said, either for the dancer or for someone else.
Pow wows are typically a family-oriented event, she added, and children who grow up attending them learn to dance early.
Amber Letuli, of Eugene, said her whole family enjoys attending pow wows.
“We’ve been doing this since she was eight,” she said, referring to her 13-year-old daughter Brittany Sturdevant-Evarts, who was preparing nearby for Sunday’s dance finals. Sturdevant-Evarts, who wore a lavender dress covered with hundreds of silver tin can lids for the jingle dance, said although she was a little nervous, she always has fun at the pow wows.
“I go to as many as I can,” she said.
Junior Kevin Stolle said he attended this year’s pow wow to hear the music, and to experience an aspect of Native American culture. He added that this was the first pow wow he had attended.
“I don’t know much about it,” he said. “I wanted to see what it was like.”