Wacipi

Well, Darrell and I crossed another item off of our "101 in 1001" list--at least close enough to the item on our list that we're going to count it. To kick off our Labor Day weekend festivities, we traveled up to Enemy Swim Day School, where my sister teaches, for their annual beginning of the year Wacipi (or pow-wow). It was pretty interesting, but since it was their big kick-off for the school year, there was a lot of conversation about the staff and students and recognitions and awards and whatnot. Not exactly the most captivating of material. Plus, Native Americans are notorious for not having a sense of time, and that was clearly evident at the pow-wow. Stories drug on and on, they waited ages for volunteers (long past when any other MC would have just given up and assumed no one was going to volunteer), and "one last thing" happened about five times. But, it was still cool to see some of the "traditional" regalia (I mark it in quotes because I'm not sure how traditional neon colors are, but whatever) and their dances, although I wish I knew more about the different types of songs and dances. Although as Darrell said--maybe there isn't much else to know and the whole point is just to be moved by the music, however the spirit chooses to move you. Darrell and I even joined in the fun for a few "inclusive" dances, including the potato dance where we had to dance while holding a potato between our foreheads. We were one of the first couples out (behind my sister and her boyfriend and my parents). I did manage to get a few pictures, although by the time I got my camera out it was already dark so they aren't the best quality.

A group of children dancers

Some of the very ornately decorated men

Which of these is not like the other? Oh yeah, it's me, standing out like a sore thumb in my teal shirt as I dance walk in rhythm with my sister

My sister's superintendent did catch us afterwards and say that if we wanted to see a "real" pow-wow then we should come back the following afternoon, so apparently there was something about our pow-wow that wasn't real. I'd definitely be willing to go again if I had the opportunity, but I'm certainly not going to make it a top priority--for now, this will suffice as our "pow-wow" experience!