Powwow
Sam Martin found Texas’ native past in Corpus Christi.
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Originally the stories swapped between tribes — those which are now the stuff of myth and legend — were used to explain why the earth was the way it was. There were creation stories, and stories about the sun and the moon. Hunters passed down tales of the buffalo, the wolf, and the deer. Warriors told of battles, victory, and death. Still, at the root of every Indian tribe and history is the fecund Mother Earth, the sacred hoop, and the circle of life where everything, like the powwow circle of dancers, cycles back into rebirth. Powwows are celebrations of life.
Drums
The foremost story being told at a powwow is that of the drum. Without the drum there can be no powwow. It is the spiritual core of the gathering. The story of the drum tells of the heartbeat of the Indian Mother Earth and how that beat draws everyone at the powwow into contact with the Great Spirit — a very old and very vital part of the Native American way. Not coincidentally, there is always a Center Drum present in the middle of the dance circle, a distinction considered to be very honorable and one that is given out to drummers who have shown their talent and commitment in many previous contests. Usually, there will be a half dozen or so drummers around one drum, each with a single drumstick, following the lead of the Head Singer. Their beats are synchronized and the result is a powerful, low and persistent rhythm overlaid with the chants and cries of the singers.
The songs are also part of the intricate web of stories emanating from the heartbeat of the Great Spirit. N. Scott Momaday, Pulitzer prize-winning novelist and Kiowa native, writes, “the singers chant in the spirits’ strange and urgent language.” This is perhaps why the words sung at powwows are unintelligible — even to the tribes present — and consist of a series of cries and chants that work more to heighten the rhythm of the drum than to convey a literal message. At the same time, the singers’ chants establish a human presence in the world as if to tell Mother Nature that we are invested here and we belong here. Even so, it is widely believed that the songs sung at today’s powwows were, at one point, sung with words. What they spoke of, however, is up to our imaginations, although we can be sure they were religious songs celebrating a special moment, or mourning a poignant loss.
“In the Native American oral tradition,” writes Momaday, “expression, rather than communication, is often first in importance.” In this respect, the dress and the dancing that take place at a powwow are stories at their expressive best. In Texas, with numerous styles descending from different tribes, dancers show up for ceremonial and contest powwows dressed in full regalia relating to the type of dance they’re performing. Everything about the dancer, from the distinctive step to the clothes they wear to the rattles and staffs they carry, tells either a personal or tribal history. So much so that powwow regulars can recognize a dancer’s tribe based on what they wear. At powwows and in native culture, dancers communicate stories without speaking a word.
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