5th Annual UNB Powwow: Year of Indigenous Language
The University of New Brunswick held its fifth annual “Powwow” on April 5 at the Currie Center. There were lots of colours and different clothing to be shown off, as the social gathering held lots of joy in its celebration. The Powwow showcases all sorts of talent throughout Native-Americans.
A Powwow is a social gathering where different communities of Native Americans come together to celebrate by singing, dancing, socializing and most importantly, to honor their culture. At UNB, Powwow celebrates language revival of M’kmaq and Wolastoquey languages and honored our ancestors that have passed through.
The event led off at 11:00 AM with with a grand entry of traditional drumming, chanting, singing and, of course, dancing.
“Today at UNB, we came to dance and show our culture,” said Powwow participant Trinity Levy. Levy said her favourite part about the event is dancing. “I love dancing,” she said, smiling. “Lots of dancing.” Trinity was wearing her “fancy shawl,” one of her favourite pieces.
This Powwow, like every other, held traditional dances like the hula hoop dance, and competitions such as the on-going couples dance that went on throughout the day, where the winning couple would get a free stay at the Delta hotel.
The hula hoop dance was given a lot of love from the people watching, as plenty of young children were in the bleachers of the Currie Center as part of field trips. During the dances, drums are being played by the special guest group and drum hosts, “The Muskrat Sings,” who sit in a circle and use just one Native American styled drum.
Booths were setup as well along the side with traditional art, crafts items such as necklaces, t-shirts, carvings, etc. being sold, along with snacks. Erica Sanipanss, who ran her own booth, sold necklaces, baskets and ribbon skirts throughout the day. Erica said her favourite part of the day is not just being able to show what she has to sell, but to see friends she does not get to see as often as she would like.
“There’s a lot of people here,” she said. “I get to see people I haven’t see all year long, so it’s just a nice gathering of people.”
Participants of all ages were apart of the traditional dances. A lot of culture was shown and was a new experience for many viewers.
“This is the first time I’ve experienced something like this,” said St. Thomas student Micheal Tremblay. “I found the representation of culture was beautiful and memorizing.”
