Pow-Wow

The last 24 hours were full of song and dance, amazingly pride-filled and beautiful. Last night a drummer came to us and taught us some basic dances. It was really neat to hear him, with such pride, explain the dances and more about Lakota history. He recalled Custard's Last Stand from the Lakota perspective. The Lakota people claim that no one wanted to kill him, because he was so evil and no one wanted his spirit to enter their own; indeed, they could have killed him before but let him live until that battle.

Today I saw a Pow-Wow. The Drumming and outfits were amazing. The drummers were only males and all the dance competitions were by sexes. The colors were really overwhelming. I got the sense that, even though some kids were not paying attention, this was something they were not just doing to please an older generation. It was quite different from ethnic festivals I have seen in ethic enclaves on the East Coast, where dying elder generations want a younger generation to carry on something. I really got the sense that the kids were into it and this was important to them (even if they could not keep quiet and focused for 4 hours...)

Today the most I ever heard was 8 to 10 drummers. To hear 60 would be overwhelming, even transcendent.