pow - wow

Today while taking a break from home construction (definately will show and tell but only after it's done, I'm all about the drama of it) A, J and I went to an Indian Pow-Wow.

Thinking ahead I stuffed the camera into my bag, knowing there would be great things to share with you. But as you plainly see I have no pictures. My response to the pow-wow was unexpected.

There were booths with  turquoise native jewlery and leather goods. Dancers were filling the air with the sounds of the bells on their feet. The campfires for cooking were spreading smoke and aroma over the hollow. It was all I could do not to cry. Very unexpectedly I felt my heart skip a beat and proclaim to my mind, "this is a part of me". Here in the midst of this region that seems so foriegn to my western soul was something I knew.

When I was a child I remember someone telling me to put some shoes on and get inside, that I looked like a little indian girl (was that you Dad?). If that was being an indian girl, I was all for it. Throughout my life I've heard whispers of indian blood in my family line, I like to think it is true. It explains my slight olive toned skin, free spirit, love of nature, and gives a little more drama to my plain brown hair.

At one point during the pow-wow a single drum beat a deep steady rhythm, I felt it as the heartbeat of mother earth. Seeing  familiar faces in traditional dress perform the dances of their heritage became more than my camera was worthy of. I could no more take a picture of them than I could take a picture of someone sitting in a pew at church.

So my heart wished for words to explain to the indians that I am a little indian girl. To tell them I learned all about the indians of Utah in school and wondered which tribe I was from. That I could be a dancer tinkling with bells on my feet and sleep in teepee to wake at sunrise with no sign of civilization in sight.

Maybe that is why I thrill at a camping trip when few women do, it is a chance to recapture my indian childhood.

Comments

[Cammie]

1.

I so agree with you Sometimes I sit outside on the porch and just listen. Matt used to say i was weird because I would just sit and look at the stars smell the smells and hear the noise of outside. Also after Brighton was born everytime it rained I would put him in the Bjorn and just sit outside and watch the rain. Still to this day my fave smell is the way it smells right as it starts to rain and its not quite pouring out or right after it stops and the sun comes out. YAY NATURE!

[jendoop]

2.

Sounds like we need a family camping trip when I visit next. How bout next week? I wish.