NC State University’s Native American Student Association (NASA) hosted its 36th annual Powwow on March 28. At noon, Miller Fields hosted Native American vendors selling cultural crafts and jewelry, dancers in beautiful regalia and musicians filling the air with sound. The field was full of students, visitors and onlookers as local N.C. Native American tribes came together to celebrate their culture and history.
Powwows are described as a time for Native Americans to bring their family and friends together to enjoy their community. There are two main types of Powwows; Social/Traditional, which only last a day, and Contest. Lyla Richardson, Miss NCNAYO of the North Carolina Native American Youth Organization and Head Dancer from the Haliwa-Saponi Tribe, explained the difference between the two.
“Day Powwows are where we just get together. There’s no contest. There’s no drum competition. It’s just us getting together, dancing [and]singing. Those are more like the social gathering part, but when it comes to the actual Powwow … They’re either two or three days because some Powwows are Friday night all the way to Sunday,” Richardson said.
She goes into more detail about the spiritual and social significance of Powwows. “They’re basically just cultural gatherings, and it’s a time for us to hang out with our family and friends that we haven’t seen for a while. We get good medicine from it, good healing. We sometimes have prayers or ceremonies. It’s just an overall good experience for the native community in general. The way I grew up, we were always taught to not bring bad energy or bad emotions and feelings into the Powwow arena,” Richardson said.
The Powwow does not begin with the Grand Entry, which is when the Eagle staff leads the dancers, tribe leaders, royalty and veterans into the arena, but with a cleanse, called smudging. Richardson explains the sacred herbs for Native Americans, and how it removes all negative energy before the contest.
“These [are] what we call the sacred herbs. For sacred herbs, that’s tobacco, sweet grass, sage [and cedar] … We usually get it in like a little bundle. And it’s wrapped up in sweetgrass and we’ll burn that when we want to do a prayer or we do those things called smudging. And it’s basically like one person goes around and fans the sweet grass, or sometimes it’s tobacco. And someone burns it, and you get in a circle, and you do your own thing. And it’s basically like cleanse yourself,” Richardson said.
Music in Powwow
To mark the beginning of NC State’s NASA’s 36th Annual Powwow, people gathered in a circle. Light jingles follow the footsteps of dancers dressed in colorful regalia, as emcee Sandon Jacobs amassed the dancers for the Grand Entry. Scuffletown Society, a northern-style drum group from Robenson County, kicked off the Grand Entry with their music.
Brice Chavis, a third-year studying electrical engineering and member of the Lumbee Tribe, explained that the main difference in the Northern and Southern music styles is the pitch. “Northern-style drum groups, typically, are a higher pitch. It resonates in a higher kind of pitch. And southern drum groups are singing a lower kind of mellow tone.” Chavis said.
He also touches on the aspects of drum competitions during powwows. Chavis said, “The criteria for judging drums and drum groups [are], one, based on participants. Two, the vocals. [And] three, the stick work.
He goes on to explain what is part of stick work. “So the sticks that the drum members use to beat the drum — how in sync is the whole drum group being? It’s a synonymous playing style. Just overall performance with their song as well.”
There are also instances of Native American veterans placing eagle feathers, or a fan of eagle feathers, on a drum. “A lot of the time it’s a veteran that does it,” said Richardson.
“If they’re feeling the song or they want the drum to continue singing it because they’re getting a good feeling or good medicine from it, a lot of times that’s when they do it. Or if they feel like they want to honor someone, they’ll continue the song,” Richardson said.
During this time, a mini-Powwow circle is made around the drum, and male dancers perform. Women stay outside of the circle and support the veterans through Lulu. Richardson said, “They take their tongue, and they click it up and down on the roof of their mouth, and it creates this harmonic sound. And that’s our way of trying to honor this song or the way this person is feeling.”
Vocals play a big role in the music. Powwow songs either use songs with lyrics or vocals utilizing syllables. “Singing was more like the straight style that I mentioned earlier. It was just a straight song. There weren’t many actual words in the song. And it sounded more like just a rhythmic, hey and whey, kind of sound,” Richardson said.
However, some songs have been lost to time. “No travel members are getting into the way of the drum, or just songs being lost throughout generations, and some songs we’re still recovering,” Chavis said.
Despite some songs being lost, the new generation of Native Americans is beginning to transition from straight-style to incorporating different languages into their songs.
“There weren’t many words in the song … But now, a lot of tribes are starting to revitalize their languages. And other languages too, not just their own, and they’re starting to incorporate it into their songs … I feel like it has advanced because people are including more words rather than just singing it by itself. So it does add a little bit of flavor into the songs,” Richardson explained.
Currently, drum groups frequently share songs with each other during conferences or through online platforms.
“You can go to Oklahoma from N.C. and probably hear a song that you know, and you can sit in and drum that song because you know it,” Chavis said.
Richardson explained that the drum styles are strongly connected to the dances. “A lot of times you’ll notice that for the women’s jingle, the men’s fancy, and the women’s fancy, and the men’s grass and the men’s chicken, they will get a Northern drum that sings their song,” she said.
Douglas Logan, with the Eagle Staff from the Waccamaw Siouan Tribe in his hand, led the Grand Entrance. Following him was Men’s Head Dancer Braycee Gibbs from the Lumbee Tribe, and Richardson right behind them.
Dance Styles and Regalia
After the Grand Entry is complete, the dancers gather back into the arena to continue dancing. Both the Woman and Man Head Dancers lead the dance for the songs, and soon after intertribal songs are played, which allows everyone, including those not in regalia.
In Native American culture, there are different styles of dance, both contemporary and traditional. When asked, Richardson listed the different styles of dance.
“For the men, there’s men’s grass, there’s traditional — both Northern and Southern traditional. There’s chicken, there’s men’s fancy… And then you get to the women’s side of it. There’s a Women’s Jingle, there is Women’s Southern [dance] and Northern Traditional [dance], and there’s Women’s Fancy, and there’s also Eastern Men [dance] and Women Woodland dancing,” Richardson described.
For the Women’s Northern Traditional dance style, Richardson describes it as more upbeat, bouncing up and down. While the Women’s Southern Traditional dance style, she describes it as very graceful.
For the Men’s Northern Traditional, the movement is quick and fast. Richardson illustrates the dance style as, “They step two times on each foot. And it’s like a high knee kind of step, two times on each foot while they’re dancing. And you’ll notice they move a lot quicker. They move very fast, and they make sharp turns. They squat a lot, where they squat, and they’ll shake their roach [headdress] around a little bit just to try to wow the judges.”
The Men’s Southern Traditional dance style is very distinctive in the sound of the drums and the actual dance moves.
“You’ll notice with the Southern Men’s Traditional, we call it southern straight. And you’ll see them when they dance, they don’t squat a lot like the Men’s Northern Traditional do… When they step, they like to scoot on their heel and stop, and flatten their foot. And you’ll notice them slide, like they’re scooting across the floor with each step. And during, they’re always standing upward or either their waist is a little bent,” Richardson described.
Specifically, some dance styles have distinct meanings. “And for the Women’s Jingle, it’s a song called a side step. It’s always been the original dance, that’s why we still have it. And it’s basically a healing style. A lot of people do use the side step for a time in prayer or to honor someone’s family, if they’ve lost someone or someone’s done something amazing,” Richardson explained.
Although dance styles have been shared over different tribes, specifically Eastern Woodlands and the Women’s Traditional Jingle Dance, many social dances are specific to certain tribes. Richardson explained, “Certain things are just for certain tribes. For my tribe, we have a canoe dance. We have a rabbit dance. [There are] certain things that other tribes don’t have that your tribe will have, but you won’t see it at Powwows a lot of times.”
A Powwow would be incomplete without the regalia. With the songs conveying their cultural stories, the dances uniting and celebrating their community — the regalia defines an era in their history. Charlize Evans, a fourth-year studying psychology and a member of the Haliwa-Saponi Tribe, described it saying “[The regalia] do change. It’s never stagnant. It’s also something like, I’m the beauty in it, you know?”
She goes on to explain that regalia is a reflection of a person. “People learn new things, and then they like to implement those in regalia. And they’re just having different types of artwork and stuff out there. So definitely no regalia is the same,” she said.
However, there are pieces of regalia that indicate a female Northern or Southern Traditional dancer. Richardson mentioned that one of the ways Northern and Southern Traditional dancers differ is in a minute detail in headwear. She said, “The thing that kind of distinguishes them [Northern Traditional] from the Southern Traditional dancers is a lot of Southern Traditional dancers do wear a beaded crown.”
She also goes on to explain the difference between the different types of dancers’ regalia, including Jingle, Fancy, Grass, Chicken and Men’s Traditional.
Jingle regalia is focused on a distinct hairstyle. Dancers wrap it with leather and add hair pieces or ties. Jingle Dancers also wear chokers around their necks to cover their entire body, whilst wearing quarter or full long sleeves on their dresses.
Men’s Fancy dancers’ regalia is colorful to be eye-catching and has a hackle bustle, which is an accessory that stands out with long, vibrantly dyed chicken feathers. They, as well as Men’s Grass and Chicken dancers, also wear bells. Men’s Traditional dancers make themselves stand out by having a stick that has a claw of an eagle at the end, with horse hair sticking out.
Not only are the pieces of the regalia important, but the security of the pieces on the clothing is important for Contest Powwows. As mentioned earlier, Contest Powwows are when drum and dance competitions occur, and prize money is awarded. With that, Richardson goes into detail about how it is important not to drop pieces of regalia during a contest, or it can lead to disqualification.
“You’re not supposed to be judged if you drop something. Eagle feather wise, if someone [were] to drop their fan, their plumes, their bustle… you’re supposed to stand right there and dance until the director notices that you have a feather on the ground. And they’ll come over, and they’ll play something on top of the feathers. And they’ll finish out the song and at the end of the song, they’ll do the judging,” Richardson said.
She goes on to explain a specific ceremony that occurs if someone were to drop a piece of their regalia.
“They’ll have what’s called a pickup ceremony. They’ll get four traditional dancers to dance around the feather that was dropped. Or sometimes, if there’s not enough time, they’ll just have veterans that come over, and they’ll take tobacco and lay it over the feathers that were dropped, and they’ll pray over it … and they’ll pray with the dancer [who] dropped it. Now, sometimes, depending on the occasion, they will take your feathers. They will not give them back to you because of the simple fact that they’re supposed to be something that’s sacred. So if you drop them, that means you were not taking care of them responsibly,” Richardson said.
Cultural Impact
Although Powwows may be a day or a weekend, it has a long-lasting impact on those who attend and participate. Richardson said although Powwows allow her to gather with her community, it has also taught her skills, given her a voice and reinstated her pride in her culture.
“It’s not even just about going to the gatherings, doing this and doing that. There’s a lot of craft to it. I learned how to sew because of my culture. I learned how to make regalias because of my culture. You learn so many crafts, tricks, tips, and stuff by being part of the culture. It gives a way to be a voice … So that’s another good part, just learning the old ways that I wasn’t here for so that I can still remember and carry on with the next generation,” Richardson explains.
Gavin Bell, an assistant director in Multicultural Student Affairs and a member of the Lumbee Tribe, described the music at powwows as a familial connection. “Whenever you do get around powwow music, and you hear the song, it almost feels like family. It feels like you’re back home, with your community, with your people.”
Chavis, having led the Native American drum group on campus called Miskwa Waya, which translates to “Red Wolf,” for two years, said the experience has made him more aware of his heritage and local tribes.
“It’s definitely [opened] my world about my culture and who my people are and who they used to be, even though we don’t have a whole lot of history to kind of look back into. But it’s definitely expanding my network [of] people in my culture and surrounding tribes, and just giving me a community to fall back on here at NC State.”
Every eye-catching aspect of Powwow is a reflection of the person, their tribe and their native culture. To be present at this event is to experience a tradition spanning centuries.
Bell closed the interview by saying, “I think the cool part is that [there are] so many different cultures in NC State,” Bell said. “And I think in different parts of the year, different cultures, different communities are able to display some of those aspects and how just a really cool way that we’re able to display our culture, community. And we really like the college powwows because the goal with the collegiate powwows is to bring everybody out to where they can see it, learn about it, especially folks that maybe they haven’t seen it.”
