Powwow held at Blackfoot High School to honor mothers, celebrate graduating seniors

BLACKFOOT — A spring powwow was held at the Blackfoot High School last week where drummers and dancers — young and old — gathered to celebrate their heritage, community and honor mothers and graduating seniors.

The events on May 3 and 4 started with a grand entry of posting the colors accompanied by drums and dancers. Leading the dancers were the head woman Susan Avila-Dixey and head man Hunter Osborne.

Following them were Miss Blackfoot High School JennaVecia Stagner, Miss Mountain View Middle School Elizabeth Trahant, Miss Blackfoot Heritage Sixth Grade Orion Wheeler, Fort Hall Elementary Princess Sophia Edmo Guardipee, Fort Hall Elementary Little Princess Ellanis Stagner and Fort Hall Elementary Tzi Tzi Princess Preacher Edmo. The host drummers for the weekend were the Bad Agency.

Saturday was full of competitions for all ages — Golden Age men and women (55-plus years), Adult men and women (18-54 years), Teen boys and girls (13-17 years), Junior boys and girls (7-12 years) and Tiny Tots (6 years and younger). In each category, the male and female dancers competed separately.

But, there were even more categories. For female teens and juniors there were the sub-categories of traditional, jingle and fancy dancing. The traditional dancers were stately and showcased beautiful, beaded regalia. ‘

The jingle category brought sounds of many tinkling metallic adornments as the dancers moved, adding an accompaniment to the drums and singers.

The Fancy dancers used capes, which swirled as they danced.

For the male dancers, there were categories of traditional, grass and fancy — which is when the headdresses and tail feathers were donned.

Between competitions, they held a relay race with five teams who had to dance and make the stick horse dance across the gym to be passed to a teammate who danced back again. The cake walk involved a large ring of people holding their plate numbers and dancing in a circle line until the drums stopped. Then numbers were drawn to pick those winning a cake.

If there was a way to dance, the event was done with dancing. And why not — when the drums and singers set a clear and compelling beat?

Mark your calendar for the next local powwow — the Shoshone-Bannock Indian Festival which will be held Aug. 8-11 — and experience the quiet reverence, joyful energy and colorful pride yourself.