Monday, August 17, 2009

POW WOW NOT CAF POW

We were driving down the road yesterday and saw a small sign that said POW WOW. Being the curious sort, we decided to check it out. We drove into what was the 16th annual Odawa Homecoming Pow Wow or "Jiingtomok." The Odawa Tribe of Native Indigenous people has about 15,000 members living in Michigan, Ontario, and Oklahoma. The Pow Wow featured men and women's traditional dance and other activities.  There was a drum competition (I can still hear them resonating in my ear), Native bead work and authentic cuisine. The colors of the costumes were incredible. The use of beads, feathers and fabric blended to form an amazing sight. Another slice of America that is preserved and, from what I witnessed, flourishing. 

21 comments:

  1. These we can't see often here... Nice post and a really colorful image.

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  2. I love the colours of the cape (?) on the guy in the foreground but the lime green is better. Not because I particularly like lime green but because it shows that as well as preserving heritage they are adding to it so it's alive and growing. It must be a real temptation to make such a thing into a museum to be true to the past but clearly they've resisted that!

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  3. What a great festival. Would loved to have been there

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  4. Ha! You sound like my husband investigating something interesting. Like him, I bet you're fun to go on road trips with. ;-)

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  5. That's incredible. I can't believe the colors are authentic. Wow.

    Nice that they work to keep their traditions alive

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  6. The desire to photograph often leads to some interesting encounters, and this is one of them. Pow wows are picturesque affairs and there are many in MN too. For some amazing pow wows and dancing, New Mexico cannot be beaten!

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  7. How wonderful that you should just run into this! A delightful look at real Americans!

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  8. I'm glad to hear someone's keeping the traditions alive. What a wonderful festival!

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  9. Now there's color. What a great discovery.

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  10. Great photo!! Must have been so interesting. I grew up with a family in Oklahoma that still participates in their pow wows.

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  11. That's cool and very serendipitous.

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  12. A worthy tribute to those flourishing slices out there. Thanks for sharing.

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  13. What beautiful costumes! I bet the food was good too.

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  14. I love all those colourful costumes! Canada's native communities have a lot of colourful costumes just like those!

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  15. It is undeniable how tribal people use colours in their lives in association to their culture and tradition. So who says they live a backwater life? Just because they do not have the material trimmings the modern civilization have?

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  16. How lucky you were to come upon this and that you didn't just drive by. I think that being part of CDP makes one more mindful of these serendipitous moments presented to us.

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