Powwow Dancing and the Warrior Tradition

Abstract

This paper provides an ethnographic description of the Plains Indian Snake Dance as it is performed at the Woodlands Six Nations Powwow at Oshwegan in Ontario. The Snake Dance is now part of the Pan Indian repertoire. As suchit has been widely diffused throughout Native North American Nations. The acceptance of the pow wow tradition into Woodlands culture represents a remarkable process of politicization, rather than acculturation which will be discussed briefly in this paper. Originally a warriors dance the choreographic motif metaphorically traces the life of a snake, from birth to nesting, and shedding of its skin, through to death which is symbolized by the warriors leap into the ne2ct life over a stick placed across the dancers path. This euphoric and energetic clima2r to the dance is reminiscent of the traditional Plains Indian Warriors cry as he entered battle. Today is a good day to die ! Only the Earth lasts foreverl (Velie, 1979, 192) The dance is now performed equally by both men and women on the powwow circuit. As in most Native dance traditions the dancers are ornately adorned. Men carry symbols of rank and objects of war, while women are draped in furs, feathers and shawls and frequently carry fans. The clothing of the dancers denotes ethnic groups, and competitive categories. This paper will provide an introduction to Pan Indianism and the relationship of this political-spiritual movement to the powwow tradition as it is currently celebrated at Six Nations Indian Reserve,l home to appro2rimately 7,000 permanent residents of the Iroquois Nation.2 The performance traits and 1 The terms Reserve (Canada) and Reservation (USA) are both used in this paper in keeping with the official terminology employed by the federal government systems in Canada and the USA to demarkate treaty lands set aside for Native Peoples. 2 Six distinct groups live at Six Nations, they also constitute the Iroquois Nation: Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca and Tuscarora. They are also called the Long House People. Prior to European contact they occupied what is now, New York Ontario, Quebec, Pennsylvania and Ontario.