Native Americans wearing detailed traditional clothing traveled from across Louisiana and Texas on Saturday to attend the University’s first Pow Wow since 2006 in the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse.
The University’s Native American Student Association (NASA) hosted the event.
The Pow Wow consisted of a circle of chairs 40 feet in diameter with a northeast entrance into the circle. The circle is the basis of all dancing, blessing and singing in Native American cultures.
Cocoa Creppel, the Pow Wow’s arena director, said the shape is used to represent the circle of life. There were four points to the Pow Wow’s circle: North was white to represent the new air, east was yellow to reflect the sun, south was red to signify heat and west was black to symbolize the setting of the sun.
According to NASA adviser Pam Bloom, many Native American tribes participated, including Alabama-Coushatta, Anishinabe, Cherokee, Cheyenne-Arapaho, Chitimacha, Choctaw, Choctaw-Apache, Choctaw-Okalahoma, Coushatta, Creek, French Metis, United Houma Nation, Lakota, Tunica-Biloxi and Wichita.
Victoria LaPoe, a Cherokee mass communication graduate student, said two drums represented the different tribes from the North and South.
“The drums are the beat and heart of the Pow Wow,” LaPoe said.
  Video: Native American Student Association Pow Wow
 
The event began with a Gourd Dance, which is a ceremonial dance serving as a ground blessing, said Skye Byrd, a Coushatta mass communication freshman. The dance involved members from all tribes blessing and dancing around the circle while moving in the direction of the sun.
The drum members at the south end sang a memorial song to honor deceased loved ones, the spirits and the elders.
The grand entry began next, which paraded the head staff and their native regalia around the circle to the song and beat of the northern drum. The various dance styles showcased during the grand entry included Northern Traditional, Southern Claw, Jingle and Northern Shawl, according to Creppel.
Following an invocation, the national anthem of the Native American tribes sounded throughout the building.
A round dance followed, which is a friendship dance inviting the audience to dance along, Creppel said.
Another grand entry ceremony took place in the afternoon, and the event ended with a dance and closing song.
An attention-grabbing Tepee stood inside the Fieldhouse and was built by Tom “Strong Buffalo” Varnado, a participant of the Pow Wow.
Byrd was excited NASA organized a Pow Wow.
“It is a home away from home while at school,” Byrd said.
  Click here for more pictures from the Pow Wow
 
Brian Sain, English secondary education junior and vice president of NASA, said he wanted to bring back the Pow Wow to the University to represent Native American cultural presence on campus.
“Different cultures are represented on campus, but you never see Native Americans,” Sain said. “It means a lot to me to show I’m a different heritage.”
 
 
____
Contact Claire Caillier at [email protected]