Anyone passing through the Main Green last weekend was treated to more than the usual frisbee players and sunbathers. They also got to see the unusual sight of a Native American pow wow.
The seventh-annual Spring Thaw Pow Wow took over the Green on Saturday and Sunday, presented by the student group Native Americans at Brown. The two-day event included dance competitions, storytelling, songs and vendors selling crafts, clothing, jewelry and food.
A pow wow is a large social gathering of Native Americans, which features traditional dances blended with contemporary elements and include "drum music, feasting and dance competition," according to the event's program. Pow wows are historically rooted in the traditional dances and gatherings of the Omaha people, spreading to other tribal groups, resulting in its modern incarnation, which dates back 50 to 70 years, the program said.
This year's pow wow was the first to be held on the Main Green, said Mikel Brown '08, a member of the 2007-08 Pow wow Committee. In previous years, the pow wow locations have included Sayles Hall, the Olney-Margolies Athletic Center and the Pizzitola Sports Center.
The annual pow wow was started seven years ago by NAB under the guidance of Elizabeth Hoover MA'03 GS, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Anthropology. Hoover said she first started doing pow wows as an undergraduate at Williams College and then discovered an interest in holding a pow wow among NAB students when she came to Brown. NAB's current membership is 15 to 25 students, Brown said.
"Turnout was incredible," Brown said, crediting the change in location. Brown said she counted 330 attendees at lunch time, usually one of the slower times of day. Both Brown and Hoover said they were particularly pleased for this year's good weather, which allowed them to hold the pow wow outside.
The new location allowed the vendors and performers to share a single space. Tents displaying clothing and crafts encircled the performance space in the center of the Green.
Hoover is a founding member of the group Native American Women in Providence, which works with Native American Providence youth. She said she was happy to see the kids she has worked with in NAWIP at the pow wow, wearing the shawls that she has helped them make.
Overseen by Master of Ceremonies Marvin Burnette, the roster of events included a series of dance competitions for everyone from "Tiny Tots," to older children and adults. Women's dances included "Traditional and Eastern Blanket Dance," a slow, graceful dance that honors a woman's familial role, and "Fancy Shawl," a dance developed in the 20th century in conjunction with the rising popularity of shawls, supposedly based on the emergence of a butterfly from a cocoon, the program said. Another women's dance, "Jingle Dress," is based on a healing ceremony and includes costumes covered in metal cones attached by ribbon, according to the program.
Among the men's dances was the "Grass Dance," "one of the oldest Western tribal dances," according to the program. Dancers sway gracefully, mimicking swaying grass, and their dress usually involves yarn, ribbon or leather, emphasizing this resemblance.
The "Traditional Dance and Eastern War Dance" are old dances originally performed by warriors returning home after battle, according to the program. The "Fancy Dance" is a fast-paced, contemporary dance, involving brightly colored regalia and "freestyle" movement in which the dancers try to keep up with the beat, according to the program.
The dance competitions were broken up by "Intertribals," in which everyone, including onlookers, was invited to dance. Competition winners were awarded prize money, except for the "Tots," who were given gift bags, the event program said.
Setting the tempo for the dances, the drum group provided the beat and vocals to which the dancers performed. According to the program, the group was led by "two 'host drums' who showcase two distinct styles of singing (Northern and Southern) and represent the best examples of each style."
Storyteller Willow Greene performed both days, accompanied by flute music and singers.
The event attracted large numbers of Native American participants from throughout New England as well as Canada, many of whom returned to the pow wow after attending previous years, Hoover said. According to the program, the Eastern dance categories included in the competition "honor the traditions of local Native peoples like the Mohegans, Narragansetts, Niantics, Pequots and Wampanoags."
Events concluded Sunday evening with the announcements of competition winners and the retiring of the NAB "flag," a carved eagle staff and the American flag.
