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September 10, 2008 WHite Earth Reservation Pow-Wow. by moe. Before getting stared down by riot cops at the RNC, we met up with Winona LaDuke and got a unique invitation: to come set up the carnival at the community pow-wow on the White Earth Reservation. Finances are tight on the road , so we took some time to talk it over. Overwhelmingly the crew chose to make the trip out to the rez. One member even volunteered to donate his own money to make the trip. Overall, everyone was thrilled at the opportunity to go beyond festival and university gatherings. The White Earth Reservation community, however, are no strangers to issues of sustainability. LaDuke's Land Recovery Project has been working locally to install wind turbines and solar heaters. One of the main towns in White Earth is a hotspot for wind energy. Some local folks run on biodiesel and grease. And in the reservation lakes, the tribes grow wild rice, which is harvested and hand-processed by tribe members, and sold through Native Harvest online. The proceeds benefit the community and preserve an heirloom grain. We heartily welcomed and thanked endlessly for making the trek out. I've never been to a pow-wow before. I'd imagined them as some combination of the Rainbow Gathering and a folk dance performance. My ignorance was blasted: what we experienced was a true cross-section of American culture. There is a big tent. Around the tent are speakers. Under the tent is a man at a table with a mic. He's the spiritual leader and emcee. Around him are circles of chairs with big drums in the middle. There are men who sit in the chairs, wearing baseball caps and jeans, and chant big deep-bellied teeth-bared chants, whomping the drum with sticks. The dancing circles the tent. The dance costumes are everywhere and all over the place. There are folks with big, intricate, bowed-ribboned-and-stringed costumes, there are folks with a fancy skirt and a t-shirt, there are folks wearing windbreakers. And when the dancers step outside of the circle, they can walk ten feet and buy a funnelcake, or an indian taco, a blow pop, or a baseball cap that says "Native Pride." They can get some local handcrafted bow and arrows, or a pow-wow t-shirt. They can visit Toss Out Fossil Fuels and grab some Eco-Info. Then they can pay a visit to the port-a-potty. The Grand Entry starts everything off, where the dancers are led into the circle by a series of flag-bearers. Besides the American and White Earth flags, there is also the POW- MIA flag and a local tribal staff. One of the first dances is a dance for all warriors and veterans. The day progresses with a long series of dances, categorized by type, dancer age, and ceremonial dedication. In the evening they crowned the first-ever Princess and Brave of this pow-wow, and the dancers were paid. We have never been so mobbed by kids. Kids who wanted to play, who said "This is a fun game," and asked to play again. Who played again, and again and again, and then asked to help run the game. "You can help run the game if you can tell me what greywater is," we said sometimes. "What's a renewable energy source?" We handed out Clif Bars as prizes along with our informational postcards. At the Eco-Info booth folks could sample Numi Tea, Dr. Bronner's and Yerba Mate while collecting new information. During the supper break, Winona LaDuke led us to the White Earth Land Recovery Project office, in a school building recently renovated- and then closed- by the Bush administration. We saw where Native Harvest distributes its goods, the site of a future local radio station, and the Honor the Earth office, and listened to Winona talk about everything from nonprofit administration to her run for Vice Presidency. The next day, our host John took us out to the processing plant for the local wild rice, and we watched as they parched and winnowed the grains. The labor involved in drying and husking rice is no small amount. The workers are moving rice all day, nonstop, pouring short rivers of rice from the oven to a series of sifters and huskers. Following that visit we were invited to watch the first Horse Ceremony on White Earth in 100 years, a dedication to a future wind turbine. The horses were led in the four directions and shared a peace pipe with human participants. The movement toward sustainability is strong in White Earth, where scraps of American and Native culture are sewn together in a kind of community quilt.More Blog Entries: |
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