At this 41st annual intertribal event, forty indigenous nations were present at Queens County Farm Museum in Floral Park, NY.
We experienced dancers in full regalia.
Presented by the Thunderbird American Indian Dancers, the three-day program offered traditions like the gourd, round, and rabbit dances. The performers explained each dance to visiting families.
Pageantry is an important component of the event, and all participants are elaborately dressed. Most dances are performed in the traditional Circle, which represents a unity of peoples.
On display, and for sale, were many painstakingly detailed and beautiful handmade Native crafts, art and jewelry.
“A Pow-Wow is more than just a spectator event: it is a joyous reunion for native peoples nationwide and an opportunity for the non-Indian community to voyage into the philosophy and beauty of Native culture. Traditionally a gathering and sharing of events, Pow-Wows have come to include spectacular dance competitions, exhibitions, and enjoyment of traditional foods.”
40 Vendors are part of the extended Pow-Wow family, sharing their Native crafts, foods demonstrations and stories while selling only Native items made by American Indian crafts peoples and artists from the Carolinas, Peru, New Mexico, New York, Puerto Rico, Oklahoma, Arizona, Canada and much more.
The Thunderbird American Indian Dancers are the oldest resident Native American dance company in New York. The founders descended from Mohawk, Hopi, Winnebago, and San Blas tribes. Having performed in nearly all fifty states, the Thunderbirds pledged to help preserve and perpetuate the culture and traditions of the American Indian people and to bring before the general public a more realistic picture and greater understanding of the American Indian people through dance performances, lectures, pow wows and workshops.
Photography by Chin (@RootsmanChin a.k.a. @VisualsByChin)
#IndigenousPeoplesDay #ThunderbirdAmericanIndianPowwow #ThunderbirdAmericanIndianDancers
Have you been to a Powwow?
Click a photo to enlarge. Click left or right of center to move forward or back.
Date: 2019-07-28