pow wow

That's my daughter in the purple jingle dress, dancing at Red Lake (Minnesota) Pow Wow.

















"Pau wau" is an Algonkin word, which actually is in reference to a person--- a holy man or woman, a healer. People would come from other villages to see the healer and eventually settlers began referring to any gathering of Indians as a pow wow. The Algonkin language group is one of the largest indigineous to North America. Most of the tribes in New England and the North Atlantic coast, the Great Lakes, the Eastern Plains, all the way west to the Rocky Mountains, speak a variation of Algonkin.
The Pequots, Mohicans, Ojibwe, Odawa, Potawatomi, Menominee, Cree, and Blackfeet are all part of the same language group. They are as similar as Europe's Romance (derivatives of Roman--Italian/French/Spanish) languages are to one another. Irokwa, or Iroquois, is a completely non-related language group, as is Siouxian and Navajo. The differences in those language groups is similar to the diffrences between Arabic and French.
ZBB took 2nd place in Boy's Traditional and NEB didn't place--got shut out. She's a good dancer, but she needs a better outfit and more beadwork. She also dances jingle dress old style and most folks aren't familiar with the ceremonial version, just the pow wow version.
Pow wows are more secular than religious, but it's a strange paradox, because Indians believe that all life, all creation is sacred. But pow wows aren't a "religious ceremony" per se. If you were to go to a Jingle Dress ceremony, what is done and your role there is strictly specified by your place in the lodge. Pow wows can be attended by anyone from any tribe and they can choose to dance any of the diffrent categories, but a ceremony is more of a closed event.
Traditionalists (Indians who practice their Native religion), christians, agnostics---all are
welcome at a pow wow. The different societies (big drum, grass, jingle dress, longhouse, etc. . .) may have differing levels of christian influence, but they are predominantly traditionalist in tone. The kids know their culture and history pretty well, at least from their mom's side. So they know the difference. But you don't necessarily have to know any of that to enjoy a pow wow.