(Native American drumming and singing)
A powwow is really just somewhere
where you can really be social and then
learn about the culture.
It's a big circle of events going on,
you can walk around and,
you know, be entertained all day
and learn something new.
I think it's it's culture at its finest.
I would describe the Seafair Powwow as a
gathering of community.
A connection to culture
and a revitalization.
Powwows actually started about 1879.
And it was more of a
just a display of sorts by Buffalo Bill.
However, when Natives
when they eventually left,
these, these what I call
a sideshow of Buffalo Bill.
They would go back to the reservation and say,
you know I think we'd like to have our own powwows.
So each tribe has their, actually their own
cultural way of providing powwows.
Some of them will do it
for honoring a veterans.
Something will do it for
even honoring a Washington's birthday,
if you can believe that.
Us we're doing it as part of a
Seafair Celebration.
This Powwow started a real small one
from Bernie.
It was actually
informally started by Bernie Whitebear
in the downtown area
in the International District
and by the late eighties.
And they were able to actually
put a full fledged powwow on.
(Native American drumming and singing)
We're not just one tribe,
we're many tribes.
So we try to represent as many tribes
as we can
and engage them and have them included.
as a family.
(Native American drumming and singing)
All of our vendors come from a variety
of tribal backgrounds.
All of our vendors have their own
specialty and our own story
of how they got started,
whether they're making drums
or rattles or different types of food.
So this is what they call Indian ice cream,
for lack of a better English term to use.
It's made from wild soopolallie berries.
I pick the berries
and make it into a juice concentrate.
This has a natural ingredient in it
called sapien that makes it foam
in our language.
sxusem, means to foam.
Corn, and also served at powwows, cornbread.
Salmon, of course, wild rice.
The foods are very, very important.
You know, even though there's some
some may not be healthy,
but they're very tasty.
(Native American drumming and singing)
our particular powwow starts
with a Coastal Grand Entry
which is of coastal tribes
and some of our
Tlingit brothers and sisters that come in
and bless the grounds of the circle
(Native American drumming and singing)
And then we also have
our Powwow Grand Entry
We will have a color guard
and our elders, our head staff,
which is our head
lady dancer and our head man dancing
and all of the dancers
and their regalia from
all the different categories,
all the different dance styles
will come into the circle
and bless the circle.
There are traditional style powwows
that don't have contests.
And then there are contemporary style
powwows that have contests.
And our Seafair Powwow is a combination
in harmony of both.
Your Champion.
There's, there's all kinds of dances.
There's Jingle Dress
there's Crow Hop.
There's what's called High Step,
there's fancy dance.
And Woman's Northern Traditional,
where they had the beaded long buckskin fringe.
But up here they have
the shorter buckskin fringe.
There's a lot of pieces that are passed down
from grandparents, parents to
children and grandchildren
and some of those pieces
have been in the family
for for more generations
than you can probably count.
And each dance style
has its own type of medicine.
I'm a Jingle Dress Dancer,
so that's one of the healing dances
We have fancy shawl dancers,
very gorgeous, athletic dance style.
They mainly focus on
how graceful you are with their shawl
and your footwork
and how strong your legs are
and how you can keep up to the beat.
Your feet can keep up to the beat.
We wouldn't be able to have a powwow
without the drummers,
without the heartbeat,
without that soul being there.
And the dancers
bring in all of their medicine,
and every individual brings in their own
particular type of medicine.
And what I'm doing
when I'm dancing out there
actually is praying for people, you know.
Dancing for people who can't dance.
You know.
The people that come to watch and enjoy
and that need healing.
Maybe they're dealing with some hardship at home.
They come here
and they watch you, and then they
they take it home with them.
And that brings them good feelings to.
What's beautiful is,
is when you got all these people
who all are on the same page
in the same beat,
and they're putting it all together.
You know, there's a lot of medicine
that happens outside the circle as well.
And that's between the connection of
knowledge being passed down.
It helps us
stay connected to to those traditions.
It helps us stay connected
to the food that nourishes our bodies.
It helps us stay connected
to the stories.
It's definitely feeding your spirit.
It gives me that pride you know,
that I'm so resilient that I made it,
you know?
If it wasn't for my grandparents
and people that fought
for these rights for us
to have these events, it just
it it's
gives me a real good feeling in my heart.