Saturday 20 July 2013

Squilax Pow Wow 2013

What a wonderful day we have had today! We drove 20 minutes down the highway to the Squilax Nation and went to their 30th Anniversary Pow Wow.

It was a colourful, energized day...full of drumming, native chants, and children, youth and adults dancing and partaking in the most respectful cultural event I have ever attended.  Due to the Anniversary nature of the weekend, camping was free and there were not any fundraising events on site. It was just a weekend of celebration, of connecting with cultural roots and a day of bonding.
I took a ton of photos and hope I will not bore you with them. I asked each individual if I could take their photo and everyone obliged and thanked me afterwards!

There were 250 dancers and I was there for the Grand Entrance and the dancing afterwards. There was a flag raising..all the nations flags and also one from the Queens representative. Dancers came from all over the province. There was a procession of the Chiefs of each Nation and as you can imagine, the photos will show that the native dance clothing styles as well as stance and facial features differ depending on which Nation the dancer belongs to. I tried to catch a variety of styles.
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and now some of my photos...

This man had the most wonderful moccasins so of course I took a piccie of them too!
This young fellow was trying to cool off with a freezie...the heat was unbelievable and to dance in all those heavy clothes must have been very hot!




The dresses of the ladies were laden with these carved silver triangular bells...I can only imagine how heavy those dresses must be. This girl had here face painted in a style I saw many times today. She looked so pretty and thanked me for taking the closeup of her bells!


Ladies dress styles and use of colour varied greatly. Here are some group shots to show you just that. 

There were so many children dancing...proudly displaying their competition numbers. The youngest I saw was about 3 years old!

And finally the dancing...I wish I had known how to work the video portion of my ancient camera...the drumming and the Indian chanting was wonderful. 

This man had his face done in red paint but I was unable to catch a photo depicting it!

This father and small son danced past me and tagged at my heartstrings...the Dad had just demonstrated some steps to his son!
This was my favourite dancer...he had so much energy and his outfit really moved with the dancing!



Here he is full view
Hope you enjoyed this little peek at some Canadian Native Culture.


8 comments:

Glenda Atkins said...

Wonderful pictures, reminds me of the Indian Village at the Calgary Stampede! Glad you enjoyed it,looks like fun!
hugs
Glenda

Di said...

Stunning photos Maureen! Those costumes are absolutely amazing and I can imagine how heavy they must be to wear - and such glorious colours too.

My fave photo is the little boy with his father - a perfect little replica :)

Hugs, Di xx

McCrafty's Cards said...

Thank you Mo for showing these wonderful Photo's it is my Dream to visit Canada and go to a Pow wow, I love all things Native, one day I will get there.
Kevin xx

DottyA Cards & Things said...

Such a FUN day that must have been... and all the beautiful colors and close.... I just LOVED my visit today!!!

Tracy said...

We also have the opportunity to see these wonderful dancers perform.
Beautiful photos.

MaryH said...

These costumes are just magnificent. How beautifully you've photographed them too. I'm so proud of you that you got permission to take the pictures. I imagine a lot of people wouldn't have been that thoughtful. And I'm sure the performers appreciated that. What a lot of work and thought must have gone into the designs on the different costumes. And you're right, I expect it must have been SO HOT for these folks in the heat, wearing the heavy clothing. Certainly appreciated the opportunity to share in your wonderful outing.

Peanut said...

Amazing! I'm just sat here mouth wide open. Next summer I try and drag the ol' hubby over to Canada for a holiday. Thanks for sharing these stunning pic, Maureen.
xxx Asha

Sandy said...

Maureen your pictures are wonderful- my husband and I attended the Taos Pow Wow several times and love it!
Sandy