It seemed that Master of Ceremonies Tom Ball was going to have to do something to get people to take off their coats and gloves and put on their dancing shoes on Saturday.
“In the old days, if a woman asked a man to dance and he refused her, he would have to give her something of value,” he said to an audience of more than 100 people at the Native American Student Union Fall Pow-Wow. “So you can’t refuse a dance.”
With this in mind, most audience members danced with friends, family and complete strangers to traditional Native American songs.
Following the grand entry, in which a group of dancing children followed flag carriers onto the dance floor, a prayer was said to remember U.S. military troops serving overseas and to thank the University for hosting the 36th-annual fall powwow. Two groups of drummers and singers then performed several songs, including a victory song, while sitting in circles around large drums.
“We are connecting with our mold and keeping in touch with our Native American heritage,” NASU co-Director Scott Minthorn said. “We mix some of the old (dances and songs) with some of the new.”
Dressed in everyday clothing, audience members were able to dance with tribe members who were wearing traditional, jingle and grass costumes. Costumes featured feathers, beads, colorful cloth and bells, and several dances were split up into men’s and women’s categories.
According to a statement on www.powwows.com, “The outfits worn by the dancers, like the styles of clothing today, evolve over time. It is not a stagnant culture but a vibrant and changing way of life.”
Ball announced each performance with a description of the dance and who would be dancing.
“There’s a lot of stories about these different dances,” Ball said while describing the men’s grass dance. “These grass dancers; when they are dancing, one side is supposed to mimic the other.”
Diane Teeman, who is studying for her doctorate in anthropology at the University, watched her 14-year-old daughter, Selena Sam-Teeman, perform the jingle dance.
“It’s good because there aren’t many powwows during the winter,” Teeman said. “It’s a good opportunity to get the community together.”
Teeman, a Burns Paiute tribe member, said she has been to ten powwows at the University, adding that her daughter has been performing the jingle dance since she was a baby and has participated in NASU powwows for the past four years. She said support for Native American culture has grown during her five-year stay in Eugene.
“There are a lot of students that are really active,” she said. “NASU is doing a good job of recruiting and retaining people.”
NASU co-Director Natalie Ball said the group hosts a small powwow in the fall and a large powwow in the spring to make Native American students feel at home at the University.
“Students sometimes feel a lack of support,” she said. “Academia is totally different than where people come from, and it takes adjusting.”
She added that there are numerous small powwows held in Eugene every month, and there are several powwows held throughout the nation that last for several days, such as the Gathering of Nations in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in April. Members from more than 12 tribes gathered at Saturday’s event, and all nine tribes from Oregon were represented, Natalie Ball said.
“People come from all over the nation for the spring powwow,” she said. “For some people it’s a way to share who they are.”
She added that powwows are a way for her to share Native American customs with her young daughter.
“It takes on a different meaning for me,” she said.
Along with traditional Native American sights and sounds, the powwow also included the tastes and smells of a free dinner of fry bread and salmon — food that Natalie Ball described as traditionally Native American. Since the two-and-a-half hour event was free to the public, it included a ‘blanket dance,’ where a blanket was passed around to collect donations to pay the drummers.
“The powwow is to share our culture so everything is not so foreign,” Natalie Ball said. “We get an understanding for each other.”