Powwow Time

It's Powwow weekend back in my hometown. It's a traditional Native American style dance festival celebrating everything Native through song and dance. From its inception back in 1991, the annual powwow became a gathering time on the reservation for families and friends. Like American Thanksgiving, the powwow brings people home for the weekend to enjoy two days of activities on a tiny island in the midst of the St. Lawrence River.

Now in its 20^th year, the powwow is a staple of my hometown that many come to depend on as a main summer attraction. This year is no different, as the high heat of July beckons the nape of your neck and the cheeks of your face, you can count on great Native cuisine and goods ranging from handmade lacrosse sticks, jewellery, sculptures and paintings. And if that's not enough to fill your day, there is the dancing. A spectacular display of color and skill, as dancers fill the main stage and dance to the beat of singers and drumming. Just the thumping of the drums can be heard miles away, luring even the sceptics to join the festivities.

The powwow began in 1991 in commemoration to the 1990 standoff in Kahnesatake and Kahnawake that lasted 72 days and grabbed the attention of the world as two small Native American Indian reserves protested a land grab by a greedy developer of ancient burial grounds in a small Pine tree enclave on the Lake of Two Mountains reservation.

In the initial years, I swear you could feel the pride in the air and even taste it in the food. I spent the first couple of years volunteering under the auspice of a dear friend, now a museum curator in New Mexico, in the official T-Shirt sales booth. And many more years bringing my children to the annual event, which is now a staple of their summer routine.

Today, as we wrestled with heading to the cottage or to the powwow, a little something tugged at my heart and my hometown won. Off to the powwow we go. Onen kewahe, that's Mohawk for good bye for now.