Dressed in long robes, they danced to beating drums under a cloudy sky.
Myriad-colored bead strands swung and jangled around their necks, foot-long feathers protruded from their hands, hair and bodies and leather fringes swayed around their waists.
Powwow celebrates tradition
Mason resident Judy Pierzynowski, right, a member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians braids her niece Sheila Pierzynowski’s hair Sunday afternoon at the ninth annual Riverbank Traditional Pow Wow at Louis F. Adado Riverfront Park, 300 N. Grand Ave. in Lansing. The three-day festival included Native American dancing, drumming and singing.
Their amplified chant rolled out thickly over a scattered crowd of onlookers.
“We receive our visions when it comes time to dance,” Jonathon Rinehart, master of ceremonies, told a few dozen people through the microphone.
The Native American dancers stepped back to the outer edges of their tent-encircled grounds to listen — their decorative regalia hanging still.
On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the Native American Arts & Crafts Council held its annual Riverbank Traditional Pow Wow at Louis F. Adado Riverfront Park, 300 N. Grand Ave. in Lansing.
“We thank the creator for allowing us to have this event,” Rinehart said as a cedar smudge — a coffee can full of hot ashes from the sacred fire — was passed around, filling the air with a smoky scent.
Today’s Native Americans live very similarly to other Americans, except most have a keener awareness for nature, said Eva Menefee, an organizer of the powwow.
“People ask me — ‘do I live in a teepee,’” she said laughing. “My feet would freeze!”
Menefee, who’s originally from Dearborn Heights, moved to Lansing years ago to work at MSU. She’s the lead faculty adviser at Lansing Community College.
In keeping with the close family atmosphere Menefee described about the powwow, members of her own family spent hours at home on Saturday cooking a feast for the people there.
“(At this powwow) people just come to have a good time,” Menefee said. “It’s kind of like a homecoming.”
Hundreds of festivals and powwows take place across the country every year, she said, but many of them have dance competitions rather than an open system where anyone can participate.
“I like traditional powwows because you can dance just about every dance,” said Judy Pierzynowski, one of two head female dancers at the event.
READ MORE
She explained that the wintertime is more for tending to oneself and one’s family, whereas the summer is “for coming together.”
“When we dance (traditional style dances), we always have one foot on the ground,” Pierzynowski said, which symbolizes a connection to the earth.
The goals of the Riverbank and other Native American festivals are to educate people about the ceremony and explain some of the language, Menefee said.
“Our culture is alive, evolving,” she said. “Lots of people don’t know about their Native American culture.”
Menefee grew up in a world where she said her Native American culture was isolated from her place in white culture, she said. But that is changing, as her daughter’s life is more blended.
“This is the way in which we share our culture,” said Mike Wigle, 58, a Turtle Clan member who lives in Detroit, but has also lived in Lansing, as well as on Walpole Island — a reservation near Algonac.
Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
“It’s nice to live with your people as a community,” Wigle said.
