Nanticoke Powwow
The photo above of head male dancer Keith Anderson was taken by Milt Savage.
If you think Native American culture is something that can only be found behind museum exhibition glass or in romanticized Hollywood films, then you have never been to a powwow.
The word powwow is derived from the Narragansett[1] word pauwau, which literally means “he who interprets dreams.” While the earliest powwows were healing ceremonies performed by medicine men and spiritual leaders, the significance of the powwow has evolved over time so that a modern powwow can be defined as any opportunity for tribes to come together for the purpose of celebrating their cultural heritage.
Powwows have become so popular that they are held all year round nationwide. They usually last for one weekend and can draw participants and visitors from hundreds of miles away. Because my Mom lives in Lewes, DE, we decided to attend the 40th Annual Powwow hosted by the Nanticoke Indian Tribe located in nearby Millsboro, DE on September 9 and 10.[2] Check out https://calendar.powwows.com/ to find a powwow near you.
An impressive amount of time and energy goes into hosting a powwow, which is organized by a committee of dedicated individuals who are already planning next year’s event now that this year’s powwow is over. The Nanticoke powwow is held outdoors on private property where visitors can park their cars in grassy fields and get shuttled through the woods to the powwow grounds in long wagons hitched to farm tractors driven by friendly volunteers. Refreshingly, you don’t have to pay to park and you only have to pay $5.00 for admission and kids 12 and under get in for FREE. Practical tips to keep in mind – bring your own portable folding chair because although some seating is provided, there is not enough for everyone, especially during popular dance events. Also, bring your own snacks, because while the food sold by the vendors is excellent (the Nanticoke succotash is my personal favorite), lines tend to be long at some of the booths, especially when there was a lull in the dance activities. Be forewarned that no alcoholic beverages are sold and no smoking permitted on the powwow grounds, which came as a surprise to me when you consider the long history of tobacco use by Native Americans for ceremonial purposes.
At the heart of the powwow grounds is the main stage and dance arena, which is surrounded in loose concentric circles by vendor booths selling either food and beverages or traditional Native American arts and crafts.
Although powwows tend to start in the morning and go on into the evening hours and the Nanticoke powwow is no exception, whichever powwow you decide to attend, be sure to get there before the kick-off event of every powwow called the Grand Entry. This is a procession led by men (usually active duty armed services members or veterans) carrying flags and/or Eagle Staffs.[3] Next come the male dancers, then the female dancers, and then the child dancers. At the Nanticoke powwow, the dancers were led into the arena by the head male dancer, Keith Anderson, and the head female dancer, Adrienne Harmon. Then, the crowd was asked to stand while the flag song was sung. Although the flags of several Indian Nations were represented, the Stars & Stripes was elevated above the rest, because despite decades of mistreatment of indigenous peoples by the U.S. Government, the fire of patriotism burns brightly in Native American culture. Serving one’s country is viewed as the most highly respected thing an individual can do. Thus, it was fitting that early in the program, all veterans – Indian and non-Indian, male and female – were invited into the arena to join the dancers for a special song and dance in their honor.
Speaking of fire, this year’s theme of the Nanticoke powwow was “The Sacred Fire that Continues to Burn within Us.” This ties in with another important aspect of powwows – expressing reverence for the Creator. Because powwows look a lot like other American fairs where cool stuff is bought and sold and consumed, it may not be obvious to visitors that for many participants, the underlying purpose of the powwow is to give thanks to the Creator.[4] While Native Americans are as diverse in their religious beliefs as the general U.S. population, Christianity predominates due to the effect of early missionary activity and continued religious education on the reservations. But if Christianity is the main course at a powwow, it is liberally seasoned with hallmarks of traditional Native American belief systems such as respect for the natural world and the interconnectedness of all living beings.[5]
But the single most important reason why powwows continue to thrive is that they provide valuable opportunities for Native Americans to pass their rich cultural heritage on to younger generations. For most tribes, whose ritualistic dances were prohibited by the Federal Government during the first half of the 20th century because they were viewed as preparations for war, it was a great labor of love to resurrect them before they were lost forever. Some powwows hold dance contests and offer hefty cash prizes to the winners not only to incentivize students to hone their skills but also to reimburse them for travel costs and lost wages for taking off work.
Young people appear to be embracing the chance to learn the “old ways.” A wide variety of drummers and dancers from numerous tribes all over the country participated in the Nanticoke powwow, including Red Blanket from New Jersey and Stoney Creek from North Carolina. The Master of Ceremonies, Keith Colston, had the important job of selecting the drum group most adept at performing the type of song that best accompanies each dance and educating the audience as to what they were seeing and hearing. The drum sits in the center of a circle of men who play it communally while singing simultaneously. Songs differ in rhythm, tempo, and style, with Northern style singers adopting a falsetto and Southern style singers maintaining the lower register. Many powwow songs use “vocables” such as “he,” “ye,” and “yo” instead of the traditional words due to the intertribal nature of the singers who may not understand the particular language of origin of the song. Regardless of the nuances of each song, the drum serves as the heartbeat of the celebration and can often be heard for miles, especially if the sound is amplified by speakers carefully placed on trees throughout the powwow grounds as the Nanticokes had done.
An entire book could be written on powwow dancing so there is no way we could possibly give you a detailed description here but we can provide a summary. There are many categories of dances organized by gender, specific physical movements, and the regalia worn by the dancers. According to Shianna Colon, a Nanticoke Indian girl who was 9 years old at the time she wrote this: “People who do not completely understand Indians might refer to regalia as costumes, but I will assure you that ARE NOT costumes. These are the dresses we dance with. These dresses keep our culture alive. These dresses mean everything to our culture and without them we would not be remembered now or in the nearby future. So next time you think of Indians think of this.”[6]
The Nanticoke powwow featured several categories of dances that are commonly performed. For example, the Men’s Traditional dance, which simulates the warrior preparing for battle and the Women’s Traditional dance, which exemplifies dignity and grace. Then, there is the Grass Dance, which supposedly originated from young men stomping down grasses so that lodges could be built on the prairie. Danced by men wearing brightly colored regalia adorned with yarn fringe that simulates grass swaying in the wind, it is mesmerizing to watch. The Women’s Fancy Dance, also called the Shawl Dance, is most often performed by teenage girls and includes some of the fastest motions in the powwow arena when the dancers twirl with their colorful scarves over their backs like butterflies swooping and flapping their wings. The most spectacular dance you will see at a powwow is the Hoop Dance, which is a form of storytelling where the dancer picks up a series of hoops and links them together, often extending them from the body to create wings, tails, or other natural shapes – all this while constantly moving and not missing a beat! But the most spiritually evocative we witnessed is the Jingle Dress Dance, which is performed by women and young girls whose dresses are covered with 365 tiny cone-shaped bells – one for each day of the year – and each one of them symbolizing a prayer. The bells jingle symphonically with the dancers' motions, thereby releasing a powerful prayer for community healing into the atmosphere.[7]
Whether you have Native American ancestry and you want to get more connected to your heritage or you’re a non-Indian who wants to learn more about your neighbors, we highly recommend attending a local powwow. As Nanticoke Tribal Secretary Kayleigh Vickers said: “One of my elders just told me today that you can have all the degrees you want, but until you get to know people and their culture and their heritage and who they really are, that is when you’ll be complete as a person.”
[1] The Narragansett are a Native American tribe indigenous to Rhode Island who are part of the larger Algonquian language-speaking group.
[2] The Nanticokes traditionally hold their powwow in September after Labor Day. I don’t know this for a fact but I wouldn’t be surprised if it is held on the weekend closest to the September full moon, which is known as the Full Corn Moon. The reason why I suspect this is because prior to attending the powwow, I visited the Nanticoke Indian Museum (in Millsboro, DE) and learned that the Nanticokes, along with the majority of indigenous peoples, used a lunar calendar to plan major events such as planting, harvesting, and holding festivals. They shared this wisdom by asking their children to examine the back of a tortoise shell – the 13 large segments correspond to the 13 moons in the lunar year and the 28 smaller segments around the edge correspond the 28 days between new moons – pretty incredible, right? For more about the Nanticoke Indian Museum, see http://www.nanticokeindians.org/page/museum
[3] The Eagle Staff, wrapped in animal skin and exhibiting eagle feathers, represents the stature and honor of a tribe or tribes bestowed upon it by its people. If an Eagle Staff carrier (an individual chosen for his valor, traditionally a combat veteran) is present for the Grand Entry, he enters the arena before any other flag carrier. For an eloquent discussion of the symbolic importance of the Eagle Staff, see http://www.orilliapacket.com/2009/01/12/the-eagle-staff-a-symbol-of-sacredness-and-nationhood
[4] Former tribal councilman Herman Jackson shares his personal reasons for dancing in the Nanticoke powwow at http://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/2017/09/10/nanticoke-tribe-40th-powwow-delaware/651191001/
[5] The Nanticoke powwow featured a Sunday morning worship service that I was not able to attend. If anyone reading this post was present, we’d appreciate it if you could write in and tell us about it. We guarantee your name will be engraved on the Glitterchicken Wall of Fame for all eternity.
[6] For more of Shianna Colon’s youthful yet wise perspective on the Nanticoke powwow, including details on the types of dances and corresponding regalia worn (and types of food and beverages typically sold), see her educational article on the Nanticoke Indian website at http://www.nanticokeindians.org/page/why-powwow
[7] For a Jingle Dress Dancer’s explanation of the interplay of dance and prayer, see Nanticoke Tribal Secretary Kayleigh Vicker’s statement at http://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/2017/09/10/nanticoke-tribe-40th-powwow-delaware/651191001/
