Powwow

This week has altogether been englightening in terms of Native American traditions. Today I went to see the Nez Perce tribe's powwow wchih was at the football arena on campus (I guess a somewhat smaller place would have offered a more intime experience but this was nice too). I really enjoyed the ceremony of Grand Entry, in which all the dancers and singers enter the grounds. They were all very nicely dressed, some with quite some traces of modern culture in their traditional-style outfits. I think closest I've ever gotten to a feeling of spirituality has been the three times this week that I have been privileged to hear the prayer with which they started. It is in a form of a kind of a chant which in my opinion resembles that of the Sami people of Lapland. There are no words, and I think the purpose of this chant is to create a proper state of mind for their religious practice. After the opening ceremonies they had dance competitions for different groups. The "tiny tots" were incredibly cute, some of them couldn't even walk without help yet.

In fact, the greates thing about having been able to get to know Nez Perce culture has been to see that they have such a large group of youth learning about the traditions and wanting to keep this culture and language alive. In addition to the dancers, there were very young boys (as well as guys my age) in the traditional drum groups. In a way, knowing the romanticized, traditional picture about Native Americans, it feels funny to see them in their traditional outfits, but warming themselves with a basketball jacket. On the other hand, it is good to see that some traditions have survived, and that the culture is capable of transforming, meeting the requirements of the present day. As far as I know, there are currently only about 30 elders (?) who speak Nez Perce as their language but hopefully this new generation will revive this beautiful language and it will stay among the living languages at least a while longer.