Native Americans share culture at IU Pow Wow

The sound of beating drums lured many students and members of the Bloomington community into the IU Fieldhouse this weekend to the third annual First Nations Pow Wow, where American Indians from all over the country gathered to celebrate and share their culture through dance and song.\n"The Pow Wow is not designed for only native people. The intention is to educate the public about a culture they may have never seen," said Wesley Thomas, head of the First Nations organization at IU, a group committed to spreading awareness of American Indians and both Alaskan and Hawaiian natives. Thomas, who is a professor of anthropology at IU, organized the event.\nWhen Thomas arrived at IU from New Mexico, he felt it ironic that in a state whose name means "land of the Indians" there were virtually no traces of the culture on campus. Himself a Navajo, he felt it necessary to begin holding an annual Pow Wow. This year, members of roughly 47 of the 554 American Indian tribes in the U.S. came to Bloomington dressed in their tribal regalia to sing native songs, sell arts and crafts and participate in dance competitions. \nBrandon Sickbert, a junior at IU, attended this year's event.\n"It was an opportunity to experience another culture," Sickbert said. "It was a good cultural awareness building event."\nThe Pow Wow, for many American Indian tribes, is both a religious and social event. The drumming is the focus and is considered a prayer, said Thomas. It is essential for the dancers because it provides them with music to which to dance. There are 16 types of regalia, or outfits, the dancers wear, which vary from tribe to tribe. These outfits, said Thomas, are never to be called costumes because a costume is only something to be worn temporarily. Each tribe's regalia is usually distinctive and has a symbolic meaning embedded in it. \nAt this year's event, there was a special performance -- the Fukishima Kodaly Choir from Japan played music of the Ainu people, early inhabitants of Hokkaido, Japan. The Ainu, who value strong connections with the land, have been oppressed in their country and marginalized in Japanese society. \nEach year, a new Pow Wow princess is selected to represent the First Nations Pow Wow throughout the U.S. The princess, said Thomas, must act as a cultural ambassador and travel to other pow wows to educate and perpetuate the tradition. The judges consist of three women, all former princesses, who look for intelligence among contestants and make their choice based on who has the greatest cultural knowledge. Beauty is not a component in the competition because the American Indians do not value it as an aesthetic in their community. \nElizabeth Begay, a soft-spoken 16-year-old from Chicago, was unanimously selected as this year's princess after dancing and answering cultural questions. Begay is a member of the Navajo tribe and said she has been dancing since she could walk.\n"I want to teach other non-Indians about our culture," Begay said. "I want them to understand us in a dignified way and not think we're strange."\nThomas is already planning next year's event and predicts even more people will attend. He said next year, it will focus more on the dance competitions. Thomas said he will continue to educate the public about American Indian culture for as long as he can. \n"Spirituality is something you are completely immersed in from the moment you are conceived," he said. "It is something you perpetuate and pass on to your children. You can't shed it like your clothes."\n-- Contact staff writer Lindsay Lyon at lrlyon@indiana.edu.