English Speaking club - POW-WOW

Today’s session turned out to be truly international.

 Besides the traditional visit by Peace Corp. volunteers the WOA centre was visited by the British guests from the international students’ organization AIESEC. Our foreign guests once again confirmed how much they enjoy their stay in Dnipropetrovsk.

Due to the arrival of several new persons the ESC session started with the introduction of the foreign guests. The Ukrainian club members also briefly introduced themselves. After that all the participants were given the opportunity to communicate in English. The Ukrainian club members again asked questions about the Peace Corp. activities and the motivation of the USA volunteers. The British guests asked advice about the best tourist locations of Dnipropetrovsk region.

The second part of the session was dedicated to the topic “Pow-Wow – the traditional festival of Native Americans”.  We have read and translated an article about the structure and rituals of this ethnic event, watched several You Tube videos with the songs and dances of Native Americans. We also reviewed the list of 10 most famous Native Americans.

To activate the new knowledge the club members were offered a team competition. The task was - to make a list of the world car brands which used Indian names and words for their models. The competition ended in a draw, both teams remembers only 2 brands – Pontiac and Cherokee. The longer list of brands was offered when the competition was over.

One more competition was offered to the audience – to try and create an Indian middle name for oneself and explain how it describes one’s personality. The most successful tries were:

Hawk Eye –  for Vlad with weak sight)))

Fast Dear  –  for Pavel who has to move a lot at work

Dove of Peace – for Nastya who is a peacemaker in most situations

Sleeping Tigress – for Tamara born in the year of Tiger.

But the winners were our British guests who were witty with their names and personality descriptions:

Flying Goose – for Caroline “Swan”son who travels the world a lot

Big Foot –   for Lauren who is tall with large shoe size.

After the presentation we continued to discuss the phenomenon of “indigenous people” in Ukraine and provided our British guests with a lot of useful info about the city and the country.

The number of participants – 21 persons.

Look at more pictures here, please 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUJqQXh7PAY&feature=related  native American music+++

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8k2FWy8gzw&feature=related  indigen/Slides

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLNMEbzm4WM   Indians at UN   in Swiss

BASIC STRUCTURE OF THE POWWOW

Planning and Organizing the Powwow:

            Powwow Committee members and Committee Chairs: Work on the powwow activities of 

Arts and Crafts, Contests, Feast/Concessions, Registration, Sales, etc.

            Powwow Princess:  Princess of prior year.

Sponsors: Businesses, organizations, and individuals providing financial and/or material

support. 

            Master of Ceremonies:  Entertains the participants, informs the spectators, and keeps the

powwow running smoothly.

Arena Director and Head Judges:  Organize the grand entries, select judges for the

contests, and generally direct the activities in the dance arena. 

            Security:  Helpful members of the community who see that lost children are found, provide

basic first aid if needed, and ensure the powwow is safe as well as drug and alcohol

free, and generally help out where needed.

           

Powwow Events:

A.        Blessing of the Grounds – before the powwow begins

B.        Grand Entry – flag ceremonies, prayers, blessings, and introduction of dignitaries and royalty

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_lLxWbFLCE&feature=related

C.        Intertribal Dancing

D.        Drums (drum groups)

E.        Dance contests

            Major Categories of dances

                        Men’s Traditional Dance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HThc7oe2zss

                        Men’s Fancy Dance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk9HF-mf0oI&feature=related

                        Men’s Grass Dance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YX6Q7T42IwA&feature=related

                        Women’s Traditional Dance

                        Women’s Jingle Dance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qivbG9HAfIk&playnext=1&list=PL664F9ABD46076C47

                        Women’s Fancy Shawl Dance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxE7TQGXAjQ

                        Tiny Tots

F.         Social Dances  (e.g. Round Dance)

G.        Honor Dances

H.        Exhibition Dances (e.g. Hoop Dance)

I.          Rituals – Honor Dances, Giveaways, retrieving a fallen eagle feather

J.         Storytelling (at some powwows)

K.        Vendors/Concessions