Pow-Wow of Love returns to tradition - State News

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By Emily Wilkins (Last updated: 30 minutes ago)

What the 27th annual Pow-Wow of Love lacked in competition, it made up for in spirit.

The North American Indigenous Student Organization, or NAISO, hosted the 27th annual Pow-Wow of Love on Saturday and Sunday at Jenison Field House, but a mainstay for the event was missing: numerous competitive dances.

Since 1989, the Pow-Wow of Love has been a competition powwow where dancers compete for a prize. Because of limited funding, this year’s event was traditional.

Only three dances â€" a men’s traditional, a men’s fancy and a female jingle â€" were competitive because of a late donation by a donor.

Garrett Faulk, criminal justice junior and NAISO co-chair, said although competitive powwows attract better dancers, the traditional ones offer something more spiritual.

“You don’t take anything away from (a competitive one),” Faulk said.

“You get the dancing and singing and drumming, but you don’t learn the actual culture behind it.”

“I think that this will be more of the people who really just enjoy dancing for dancing itself and music for music itself,” Dyer-Deckrow said.

“It’s an opportunity for us to come together to renew friendship, make new friends and share and appreciate our (culture).”

To emphasize the cultural focus, a group of elders attended the powwow to discuss American Indian traditions and culture.

“(The elders talked) about the seven teachings, and those are different stories in the culture,” social work senior Ashley Ryerse said.

“I think those will be good to hear because it’s important to learn what the elders know.”

The elders were recruited from the community, said Ryerse, who also is a NAISO co-chair.

Even without the competition, more than 2,500 people attended the event, which is a larger turnout than in past years, Faulk said.

Dozens of dancers came to the event dressed in full regalia. One dance, called an intertribal, was open to all spectators regardless of heritage or experience.

“It’s a basic two-step to the beat of a drum,” said Faulk. “This is what a traditional powwow is all about â€" going back in to the culture and trying to preserve our culture.”

John Petoskey, a student at Northport High School in Northport, Mich., said he preferred the traditional powwows because they held more significance.

“I don’t really like competition powwow,” he said.

“I don’t like the idea of getting paid to do a cultural spiritual dance.”

Originally Published: 52 minutes ago

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