Powwow goes on despite foul weather

Page 7

A warm welcome was given to Elders, veterans, dancers, drums, singers and visitors the evening of Sunday, July 21 during the spectacular grand entry of the 2002 Onion Lake International Powwow, with special prayers and thanks given for a whole day and night of perfect weather.

It was a fairy tale ending for thousands who had braved three days of rain, lightning and a violent Saturday evening thunderstorm that blew down the huge parachute covering the arbor.

The Wild Horse Drum from North Battleford opened with an honor song for the first round of intertribals. As the sun set, the stars came out and a full moon lit the open arbor.

Powwow enthusiasts Wolfgang Mosler and his girlfriend Evelin Kopp, part of a German tour group attending the powwow, gave their take on the event, saying it was "the biggest and best they had seen in North America."

"We have powwows in Germany but usually much smaller and taking only one day with two entries made mostly by the drum groups. Naturally we have no bands, no tribes, no Elders, no medicine men. That's a big problem. We try to make everything in an authentic way with much respect on it and try to do it in the right way, and I am glad to see that ours is quite similar to powwow in Canada and the U.S.A.," said Mosler.

"The Germans are very interested to see the latest developments and how people in North America make their regalia. This is my second trip to Canada. My first powwow was at Waterhen. There have been many surprises here at Onion Lake. The first was that the roof had gone away. The second, that the powwow is so great, so big with so many drum groups, dancers and whistle blowers, the best we have ever seen. And the third, the unpredictable summer weather, first hot then very cold," added Mosler.

Mosler and Kopp surprised newly made friends at the powwow by observing the ancient Cree tradition of gift giving by giving out copies of their Red Road Singers CD, recorded by their own drum group in Germany. The CD features honor songs, round dance, crow hop, sneak up, jingle dress and South American pipes, all played in southern style.

They got the beat and it was difficult to tell from the real thing; clearly imitation is still the sincerest form of flattery . . . which brings us to the Sunday evening switch dance competition.

The comic relief and crowd-pleasing antics showcased in the men's jingle dress switch dance special brought the huge crowd packed into the Onion Lake arbor to their knees with laughter.

Things got very wild as more than twenty competitors, dressed up in borrowed finery, whirled, shimmied and tripped their way across the dance floor, shaking their beads, jingles, feathers and pop cans, hoping to catch the eye of a judge and screams of approval, rowdy applause and wolf whistles from the audience.

Third place winner Colin Stonechild, gorgeous in yellow, silver and baby blue, was given a good ribbing for forgetting to wear a bra.

Second place winner Nicky Hewson wasn't afraid to let it all hang out in a jelly belly jingle dance style that rocked the arbor, proving that things do go better with Coke and Pepsi and Sprite and Dr. Pepper.

In the end, it was the daring red stockings, gold satin jingle dress and amazing rock star moves that brought down the house and gave Ben Cardinal, the grand championship, first prize money and a commemorative denim jacket.

Interviewed with hilarious commentary by Master of Ceremonies, Charlie Tailfeathers, none of the 'very sweet but coy' jingle dance winners could be persuaded to give out the locations of their home reserves or their personal phone numbers.

Charlie Tailfeathers, men's golden age traditional dancer, born on the Rocky Boy Reserve in Montana and currently living in Oregon, also presided over the Makahoo family special and the Dillon family memorial given in honor of veteran Eric Dillon.

Making up for lost time due to bad weather, the Onion Lake Powwow continued deep into the wee hours of te morning, ending on a dramatic note in a beautiful moonlit setting for the grand championship dance finals.