Modern Pow-wows

(After viewing the segment from the Pow-wow video “Into the Circle: An Introduction to Native American Pow-wow,” write a short essay summarizing the historical information given on the beginnings of Pow-wows in Oklahoma.)

Prior to the European settlers, Native Americans danced in drum circles, and each tribe had its own unique sound and drum circle tradition.  Modern Pow-wows are significant in several ways, resulting from an accelerated fusion of the Old and the New traditions due to forced migration into reservations – many forced into Oklahoma.  Oklahoma was home to many Native American tribes before these mass migrations of Great Plains Indians, and became an even richer cultural center afterward.  The Kiowa tribe, for example, created its own new form of ceremony and dance in the late 1800s, featuring young boys in a “Boy Dance” Pow-wow.  The Comanche tribe also formed a “Picnic”, a new celebration and dance tradition.  The 19^th Century brought about many changes, and mass migrations of non-Native American settlers toward the West of the country caused tribes to create “War Dances” – based on earlier drum dance traditions – a dance whose purpose was to entertain tourists who were traveling west.  The shows were known as “Wild West Shows”, featuring ‘Cowboys & Indians’ battles.  New dances were also created for other reasons.  WWI and WWII was truly an accelerated evolution for a large number of the Plains Indians.  Dances were performed in a veteran’s honour in order to help raise money for his or her safe return, or to welcome the veteran (now known as a Warrior) home after a long journey away from the tribe.  Ultimately, a Homecoming Dance was refined, and a day of celebration, July 5^th, was designated as Homecoming Day.  The mass influx of returning war veterans caused a major intertribal cultural fusion.  By the 1940s, the Tulsa Pow-wow made its start.  Each year it grew to include more and more tribes, resulting in what is now the modern day Pow-wow, one that welcomes the new yet remembers the old.