Traditional Festival of Native Americans

Traditional Festival of Native Americans
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* Introduction
A Pow-wow, alternatively known as a powwow, is a social convention held by many different Native American Communities. Primarily it is held as a ceremony with a lot of dancing in traditional regalia and singing in native American languages. Attendees often show up in traditional regalia which are handcrafted and brightly colored. A powwow can be intratribal or intertribal. Different cuisines are provided often by vendors who have been licensed by the committee. In some cases, the powwow is sponsored by tribal associations, companies, individuals, etc. Each powwow is different according to the committee’s preferences, budget, and objectives. There are private, and public powwows and they can get up to even a week. Their planning can take months, and it is always adapted for the community and objectives sought to be accomplished. It involves a lot of dancing and singing, and in some cases, dancing competitions are held, and winners are rewarded with cash prizes among other things.
1 History
The name powwow is derived from Rhode Island American native tribe known as Narragansett which means ‘leader.’ CITATION OBr18 \l 1033 (O'Brien, n.d.) The term also has different variants depending on the native community, and also many tribes have claimed to have hosted the first powwow CITATION Bro04 \l 1033 (Browner, 2004). The modern-day version of powwow evolved from grass Dance Societies which was a group of warriors in an early 19th century who enacted deeds for all members of the tribe to witness CITATION Jam11 \l 1033 (Oxendine, 2011). Each tribe had a form of powwow and it through modernism, the culture has been lost to history and modern powwow events are efforts to resuscitate the culture of native Americans. Native Americans in the US have suffered especially in the late 19th and 20th century from the government which sought to obtain their lands for economic exploitation and most of their cultural practices and events were abolished and or difficult to organize in the face of torturous government CITATION Mic161 \l 1033 (Simpson & Filice, 2016). However, some communities tried to keep the tradition alive and continued holding powwows even in private away from the prying eyes of the government. Powwows have persisted, and though they have evolved to reflect modernism, most of the classic cultural elements are still present, and they have been very instrumental in preserving the native American tribes’ cultures, and their functionality has evolved to encompass objectives for more social integration and harmony among tribes.
2 Organization
A powwow is organized by a committee. The committee starts organizing the event several weeks, months or months prior to the event. A committee consists of several individuals who are tasked with organizing the event. They determine a lot of elements for each powwow. They popularize and promote it to increase attendance and create a program for the day(s) the powwow will last. They also issue licenses to food and handicraft vendors who would like to sell their merchandise in the powwow. The committee finds the staff including MC, arena directors, head dancers for eac...