MOORHEAD, Minn. – When Labor Day weekend arrives this year, Brenda Child will miss an occasion that has been a part of her life for as long as she can remember.
She now lives most of the year in dual cities, is a professor at the University of Minnesota, but grew up in the country of Red Lake, with fond memories of the powwows. He even wrote an e-book of pictures for children about powwows.
“My favorite pow-wow of the year comes on Labor Day weekend, when there is a contest of making a song in Ponemah, Minnesota,” he says. “Every year I take my children to Ponemah and sit there across the lake and pay attention to music. I think I’ll be unhappy on Labor Day weekend.”
For Child, powwows are energizing and contemplative. They communicate about music, dancing, food, visiting hours with the circle of family and friends, and time to think about parents who are no longer in the powwow.
“My mom, my grandmother or my uncles who have passed away, so it’s not just something I share with my kids, but it’s time to immerse yourself in Ojibwe culture,” she said.
Many other people across the state spend months preparing for the powwow season, which is historically coming down right now. But COVID-19 has disappointed these plans: as states and tribal nations continue their fight against the spread of coronavirus, many of this year’s powwows have been canceled, leaving others languishing for the community, the family circle, and the indigenous culture birthday party that the powwows bring.
“It’s really huge for the rest of our people when we have a pow-wow, because the compilation and intelligent emotions that take place those pow-wows are something you can’t really describe,” said Gary “Rez Dawg” Jordan, who toured. the pow-wow circuit when he was younger with the popular Red Lake Eyabay drum group.
Jordan said he had made many friends in the United States and Canada on the way to powwow, and now only saw many of them in the powwow season.
There have been some small powwows organized in the Indian country this summer, but the maximum is being canceled because tribal governments are implementing policies to restrict the spread of COVID-19. Instead, this summer, some artists are becoming artistic and collecting virtually.
Recently, 10 Eyabay singers gathered around a drum in Red Lake to perform live on the Social Distance Powwow Facebook organization. Dancers across the country also post videos online, dancing solos with videos posted on the social media site.
“It’s great, but nothing will update the feeling of sitting in this arena with everyone and watching it live,” Jordan said.
People also had to be artistic with a vital component of the powwow season: food.
“What we’re seeing here in this age of lockout is [that] other people [who] had food stalls in our pow-wows are now settling in their backyard,” Jordan said. They said, ‘Hey, you know, we haven’t been able to do the powwow this year, but our food stand is open this weekend, come and enjoy a fair meal.’
Today’s Powwows have been formed through the U.S. government’s crackdown. In the early 1920s, the federal law known as Dance Order banned Native American dances. So, Child says, other people have adapted.
“One of our methods of circumventing those government policies is to start calling our birthday party a Fourth of July birthday party, to plant flags and celebrate veterans,” he said.
Flags, flag songs and songs in honor of veterans remain a component of the powwows. The same goes for songs and dances created through the ancestors of generations beyond, adding the latest healing dance, which emerged from the 1918 influenza pandemic.
The powwow has had government repression, Child said, and will be a pandemic. And even if it lacks the power and joy of the powwow season, it is based on the many memories that will bring you this lonely summer.
“For me, if a powwow is really past, it lasts until the expiration of the night. I don’t forget that in Red Lake I was a kid with my uncle playing in his drum band and my mother and I were dancing in the powwow, there were nights when we didn’t go past the house. We were passing home when the sun came up in the morning,” Child recalls.
“If that’s not the case until next year, I’m sure we’ll see record crowds in all the powwows that will do it again,” he said.
And there will be a new song or dance to mark the history of this pandemic.