Article about 2007 Pow-wow

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Marching to the beat of a more diverse drum
A festival with the AISD brings culture to the Harrington Beach
Michelle Trincia
Issue date: 11/9/07 Section: Mosaic


Media Credit: Jenny Lin


Drum beats lured curious students toward East Campus Saturday. Performers clad in intricate dress shimmied in place to keep warm as they waited outside the circular center arena. Members of the crowd took their seats as Junior Peter-Paul, a member of the Mic-Mac tribe in Big Cove New Brunswick, Canada who served as master of ceremonies, introduced the traditional grass dancers, or, as he joked, "sand-dancers," to kick off the day's events on Harrington Beach.

Saturday marked the American Indianist Society of Delaware's fourth annual Native American Festival, which was held to honor Native American culture on both a local and national scale. Attendees ranged from small children to grown men and some traveled from as far as Canada to participate in the festival.

The AISD was founded in 2002 when senior Don Williams and alumna Maureen Zieber realized Native Americans were underrepresented on campus. Willams says the organization is mainly student-run, and all the officers were heavily involved in Saturday's festivities, not only as administrators but as dancers or merchants selling handmade crafts.

The mood was light despite the chilly air. Tents were filled with vendors selling Native American crafts and jewelry, and powerful music filled the air as attendees celebrated and socialized. Honor Guards, or Native American war veterans, carried flags into the powwow arena, and people of all ages and costumes danced soulfully to the beat of the powerful drum.

Carl Green, a member of the Nanticoke-Lenape tribe of Bridgeton, N.J., is a member of the Red Blanket Singers, a group that provided music for the festival.

"The rhythm of the drum is the heartbeat of the people and it is how we say prayers," Green says. "My favorite thing about powwows is the energy. People dance because they love to dance. They dance and sing from the heart."

Dancers and vendors weren't limited to Native Americans. While Sharon and Gary Schoch have no Indian heritage, they say they enjoy the tranquility of the culture. The two have been traveling to reservations and handpicking tribal jewelry to sell at powwows for the past 15 years. They see their weekend hobby as an escape from the stresses of everyday life.

"Powwows really ground you after working all week," Sharon says.

Vendor John Moore's love of Native American culture stemmed from a sleeping problem he had more than 10 years ago. He began making Native American crafts late at night when he couldn't sleep.

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"What drew me into the culture were the meanings," Moore says. "Everything, big or small, is shown for a purpose."

Moore is now a member of the Turtle Island Pennsylvania Shawnee. His native name is "Walks in Clouds" and his wife's is "Walking Hulk." He says native names are given by an elder after observation, and are based on a vision or a dream.

The generally happy atmosphere at the festival took an emotional turn as Honor Guards announced a very special addition to the day's ceremony. The guards had in their possession one of the three original flags that was flying over the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001. The flag was presented to the Honor Guards by a New York policeman, and they have been using their own funds to travel and present it at various powwows every weekend since July. Dancers unraveled the flag and danced prayers around it to honor past, present and future war heroes.

Bob Dunsmore was one of the Honor Guards present at the festival.

"It is hard, being a Native American in the 21st century, with all the things I've seen," Dunsmore says. "Native Americans have the most per capita poverty rate of all the minorities. We always seem to be left behind. We're trying to give back."

Dunsmore and the other Honor Guards continue traveling to spread their cultural message nationwide.

Thomas Roeck, professor of anthropology, says Indian reservations are federally-owned areas of land and, in theory, members get government compensation, as well as access to health and education services. In practice, though, many treaties are broken, and unemployment and poverty can become issues. But reservation life varies. Some reservations experience unemployment rates as high as 50 percent, while others are successful communities.

Roeck says he experienced this variety first-hand. He has done archaeological work on a Navajo reservation, which has a livestock-based economy, and also on an area near one of the Apache reservations, which has a successful tribal hotel and casino.

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"One of the lessons I learned early as a student in anthropology was, 'Yes, there are Indians not just in the West but throughout the continent - people who retain a strong sense of native identity - and no, that doesn't mean that they are fossilized people in buckskins," Roeck says. "But it's hard, [when] exposed to Indians in Hollywood in forms of Westerns, to realize they are real people engaged in modern society. Understanding this is an important part of diversity."

Moore also sees a need to expose the Native American culture.

"Racism, bigotry and stereotypes come from misunderstandings," Moore says. "We tend to fear what we don't understand, and try to destroy it. With understanding comes appreciation and acceptance."

Williams says while there are no official Indian reservations in Delaware, Native Americans are still present, and Green says powwows and other Native American events like Saturday's festival occur almost every weekend in the region.

"We continue to have these events to educate the public, let them know we're still here, even on the East Coast," he says.