Annual pow wow celebrates Native American culture
(note: more photos are available in our 
powwow 2006 slide show)
Native American drum music and regalia-clad dancers of all ages filled Peter Stott Center this Friday and Saturday as part of Portland State University’s Fourth Annual Pow Wow.
The event, part of Native American Cultural Awareness Month (NACA Month), included an honor dance for Portland State’s graduating class of 2006, a proclamation by Dan Fortmiller, vice-provost of student affairs and a guest appearance by dancers from the Pacific Islanders Club.
The Saturday session of the pow wow kicked off with a “Grand Entrance,” an opening ceremony designed to honor elders, veterans and tribes.
Carrying flags and eagle staffs, veterans from the Korean, Vietnamese and first Gulf war led a procession of dancers into the gymnasium. Drum troupe The Four Directions accompanied with traditional music.
“These gifts that the Creator gave us, they work wherever we are,” said Bob Tom, the pow wow’s emcee, referring to the Grand Entrance’s song and dance. “They work whether we are standing on the grass on the reservation, or in a university gymnasium.”
“A lot” of nations were represented in the ensuing hours of song and dance, said Farrell Ortiz, pow wow judge. Participants included dancers from the Nez Perce, Warm Springs, Sioux, Blackfoot/Cree, Diner, Colville, Dime, Yakima and Cheyenne tribes.
Future events in NACA Month include a salmon bake, to be held 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Wednesday in the South Park Blocks, a speech by Native American poet and activist John Trudell, taking place at 7:00 p.m. May 25 in the Columbia Fall Ballroom, and United Indian Students in Higher Education (UISHE) Youth Day on May 26 in the Native American Student and Community Center.
The South Pacific also made a showing at the pow wow. Onlookers cheered and hollered Saturday as oiled, shirtless men and sarong-clad women from PSU’s Pacific Islanders Club performed traditional Tahitian and Hawaiian dances. “Ladies, put your dollar bills away!” Tom said.
“We’ve been invited to the pow wow for the last two years,” said Pacific Islander club emcee Kanani Martinez, an MA student in the education department. “They do support for us, and we do support for them.”
PSU alumni Laura John spoke to the pow wow about Star Shield Family Wellness, a program which assists parents inside the Native community. Star Shield, part of the Native American Rehabilitation Center of the Northwest, offers home-based parenting education and on-site courses in “Positive Indian Parenting.”
Vendors selling Native American art and handicrafts, including beadwork, paintings and pow wow DVDs, lined the walls of the gymnasium.
Bree Blackhorse, a 17-year-old vendor from Seattle, displayed the “ledger art” of her father Terrance Guardipee from the Blackfeet Nation. Ledger art dates back to the 19th century, when Native Americans imprisoned in U.S. army forts illustrated their life stories on ledger paper with crayons and colored pencils.
Another vendor, from local company Mexica Tahui, which means “onward people” in Nahuatl, sold t-shirts with mottos like “Homeland Security – On the Job Since 1492.”
