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Attending the powwow at Yale was an experience to remember and think about more. It was unlike anything else I had attended in the past with such an energy radiating around and outside the building. Even approaching the event, I saw people with beautiful outfits and coming together.
The moment of entering the building, which happened to a Yale gymnasium, was as if a different world even though it was part of mine own state. People of different backgrounds were all around talking, eating, and having a good time. Soon after we entered performance, dance and music, exhibitions and contests were held to show amazing talents. It went from traditional drumming and singing to silly (I’m not joking) potato dances for money. A pamphlet had the origin stories for each dance, song, and group. A lot of them shared a trait of beginning at one place with a certain purpose and then spreading out and used for other events and occasions. An example of this a song which began as a memorial dance song about war in early 1800s and now is a men’s dance song.
After a while between events, my dad went onto the main floor which people were about selling at vendor stands and having fun. I bought a ring and ended up chatting with a few people. One of them was Mata. Mata is a young woman who teaches at a reservation on Long Island in South Hampton who had danced in a few exhibitions. My dad and I wanted to originally wanted to talk to her because she had these beautiful hummingbird boots and a pretty dress. She was nice enough to talk to us for a while about the culture of the tribes attending especially hers and the many, many powwows that she had attended. She offered a few culture lessons. “Suki” pronounced Sue-ki means purple. Also, she taught why the men drum and women stand by because women were protectors, givers of life, and generally on the hierarchy higher than the men.
As we left, we stopped at a booth for food. Unfortunately, we missed these fried dough esque things, but we got to talk to people from Havenly. Havenly is a New Haven bakery which helps forward immigrants from different backgrounds get education especially ESL and get jobs in culinary. Overall, the event taught me a lot of cultures I didn’t know surrounded us.