Prairie Awakening Celebration (Pow Wow)

I've always wanted to go to a Pow Wow and my dream finally came true! We attended a real Native American Indian Pow Wow last night. The name of the event was "Prairie Awakening: A Native American Celebration" and it was their 9th Annual Celebration. It was an exceptional learning experience for us.

We went with, Rachael, Jason, Marc (4), and Ana (22 mo) and friends of theirs. They all went last year and raved about the bonfire and dancing. I knew it would be a neat experience and it was! I am so grateful they invited us to go with them. Unfortunately it was raining so many events were not able to take place as usual, like the bonfire and owl release. But there were drums, a flutist (Bryan Akipa) and dancing which included an awesome world champion, Native American hoop dancer, Dallas Chief Eagle. Hoop Dancers are featured at many Pow Wows. The hoop has no beginning or end; it represents the continuity of the spirits of all living things. The photo of the man in his regalia doesn't show all the other people who joined in the dancing. My photos don't do justice to the beauty of the place, people, and celebration. If interested in seeing Chief Eagle perform in 2000 at the JFK Center for Performing Arts click HERE. He is awesome! And he travels around the world with his family performing.Very awesome!

The event took place at a lovely conservation area, Kuehn Conservation Area.

Marc and Holden thoroughly enjoyed running thru the tall grasses of the prairie maze near the arena. And I enjoy watching Marc dance around the arena with the other children and dancers. He remembered the celebration from last year and was entranced. It was endearing. Rachael, Jason, and Ana even danced several times to the beating drums and chanting. The arena was a large cirlce mowed into the center of prarie grasses. The arena was a sacred and special place for people to hear the MC, drums, flutist, and other activities. I saw people with their eyes closed trying to focus on the spirituality of it all. One man had his ears plugged when my kids were asking me a question. Some people were really serious about the importance of this event and showing respect to the Native Americans. I found I was so excited to be there as well as my kids that we had a hard time staying quiet the whole time. Hopefully we didn't make too big of fools of ourselves. I think people forgave us because it is hard to contain small children who are having a blast and because we weathered the rain to be there. Thankfully we found shelter too! Camden fell asleep on the way home and probably had dreams of tall prairie grasses and sacred chanting.

The brochure I have states the purpose of the celebration. Here's a portion: "...to restore landscapes to their native conditions and celebrate the cultural history of place. Through Native American music, dance, tradition, and spirituality, we hope to foster in the diverse ethnic groups present in today's community an understanding of our cultural heritage and our common connections and relationships to the earth." I felt the event was a success despite the rain.

There was an elderly man who MC'd (Master of Ceremonies) who was funny and wise. He had a wonderful sense of humor and made us laugh. We wanted to stay to the very end to listen to stories in the tee pee but we ended up leaving before then. We were sad but humbled. Holden wanted to sleep there. I know my boys will never forget the Pow Wow! I would like to attend more cultural events in the future. It is a great way for children to learn respect for other ways of life, history, the earth; and see how were all the same, but different too. In a world where some strive to conform others, different is good!

Photos: All the photos are mine except the one of Bryan Akipa. I borrowed it from his website: http://www.bryanakipa.com/)ne If you go to his website you can listen to his flute playing. It is hipnotic.