Native American students honored their heritage by donning colorful traditional clothes lined with bells, tassels and feathers and dancing to boisterous drums and songs celebrating their native identities.
The occasion for the regalia was a powwow, which brought together Native American students from many different tribes.
The North American Indigenous Student Organization hosted the 32nd annual Powwow of Life in Jenison Field House this past weekend.
The MSU community and 12 recognized tribes, including the Three Fires — three of the largest tribes in the Great Lakes region — came together for a celebration of Native American culture through singing and dancing.
Organized by NAISO, the Powwow of Life at MSU was the last university powwow before official tribal outdoor powwows begin in May.
The Powwow of Life provided a different perspective from the 2014 Powwow of Love, focusing on rebirth.
“It’s our community gathering that’s been happening since the beginning of our culture,” NAISO co-chair and food industry management junior Karley Rivard said.
The event hosted participants in traditional regalia who were dancing, singing and playing songs on drums in a dance arena which was blessed before the event began.
“We have the four medicines: sage, tobacco, sweet grass and cedar,” NAISO adviser and active member of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians Pat Dyer-Deckrow said. “We believe that there’s positive and negative in the world and sometimes we carry the negative without realizing it. We have the head veteran for the powwow come and do a smudging so there’s good vibrations, or good medicine, all over the arena.”
The drums set the tempo of songs and dances at the powwow, representing the heartbeat of the Native American people, Mother Earth and the nations.
The circular shape of the drum in particular represents the unity of the Native American people and oneness with the universe.
According to tradition, when songs are sung using a drum, they are heard by the spirit world.
“When we dance, we believe in the ancestors,” Dyer-Deckrow said. “So a lot of times we believe the ancestors are with us and we pray to them looking over us.”
As an expression of thankfulness to the Great Spirit, Native American dances were performed in groups, drawing friends and relatives together in a circle representing the cycle of life, the moon, the sun and the earth.
Public policy junior Diop Harris associates the NAISO Powwow of Life with a family reunion.
“They might not be blood, but they’re still family,” he said.
Because Native American culture is passed down through generations, students feel a strong sense of their ancestry and roots is important in everyday culture and morals.
“Having that set of morals and those teachings and everything gave me a guideline as I grew up,” Rivard said. “I really realized that was something that I want to live to. Being native is something to be proud of because we have fought for so much and we still have so much more to fight for.”
Member of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians and NAISO co-chair Traverse Cottrell thinks of being native as remembering the origins of his ancestry, and trying to resemble them and connect to his past.
“It’s a way of life,” Cottrell said. “I’ve noticed that it’s important to have that equilibrium. To be in balance and it’s important to thank all the ancestors and continue that way of life and make sure that it doesn’t die.”
