Discover Indigenous Culture at a Pow Wow Ceremony with Rayyah Sempala.
On Sunday, September 27, 2020, a Pow Wow was held at the Encoch cultural grounds in celebration of life.
Pow Wow is a large gathering organized by North American Indians for socializing, dancing, singing, and celebrating their culture.
Diversity TV caught up with three Indigenous dancers who each had different dance style; Fancy dance, traditional men’s dance, and traditional Jingle dance.
With Canada getting more culturally diverse it is important that we seek to learn more about the history of this great land and its diverse peoples.
In an interview, we got a chance to hear about some of the history and origin of some of the dance from the dancers.
For the traditional Jingle dance which is mostly performed by women, Mikah Morin, a youth representative from the Enoch Nation explains;
“A long time ago there was a very sick little girl and the doctors said they couldn’t do anything for her. Her grandmother had a vision in a dream and they told her to put on this dress (pointing to her Jingle dress) and dance. So this is where it comes from. It’s a healing dance actually. It represents healing and your connection to mother earth”.
When asked about the origin of his style of dance, Jirayr Zorthian (pictured in brown) states that:
“It originated somewhere around the Sioux Country within the Sioux tribe and it’s supposed to represent the warrior”.
All the dancers donned beautiful regalia with amazing beadwork. Diversity TV asked some of the dancers where it came from and what it means. Here’s what they had to say. The beadwork to Tyson Frencheater (pictured in blue and white), a men’s Fancy dancer says,
“A buddy of mine did my beadwork over the summer, my cree name is ‘eagle man’ and you can see it on my beadwork. It’s got eagles and you can even see it on my headband. One of my favourite colours is blue and these fire colours (pointing to his beadwork), they’re blue, red, yellow, and white, I wanted that in my beadwork”.
Jirayr who dances men’s traditional gives another perspective saying:
“My beadwork is not really anything as significant as that (referencing Tyson), some people put their cree name on and then there’s people like me who just go for the aesthetic look but mine was actually passed down from my father in a giveaway ceremony from the rom family”.
For Mikah, she had designed all the beadwork herself for the first time and was excited to show it off at the Pow Wow.
“The men’s Fancy dance is a representation of the individual and can really mean varying things depending on the person and their style of dance,” Tyson says, pointing to his head, “The two feathers on my head rock back and forth, kinda like how horses do”.
We wanted to know what dancing meant to each of them and these were their replies,
Jirayr stated,
“For me dancing is just a way of letting out my spirit, I guess and being able to show it in physical form in a sense, to let it out and show how much fun I have. It’s a good way to keep the sickness away, I guess. My grandma always told me to keep dancing and dance hard for those that have passed on before you that way you show’em what you’ve always wanted to show’em”.
Tyson stated that:
“Dancing means a lot, it’s kind of like expression, self expression, healing for myself, my family and those that can’t dance for themselves, dancing is a gift”.
In a final message Tyson gave us a few of the reasons why he and other’s dance which left us with a deeper appreciation for Indegionus history and culture,
“Our families, they’re the ones that do most of the work for us on most occasions like our feathers, our outfits. Most of the time they come together to help us, they’re the reason that we dance. We dance for ourselves, our families, for our healing and other people.”
We acknowledge that the land on which we gather in Treaty Six Territory is the traditional gathering place for many Indigenous people. We honour and respect the history, languages, ceremonies, and culture of the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit who call this territory home.
