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(Native American drumming and singing)

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A powwow is really just somewhere

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where you can really be social and then

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learn about the culture.

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It's a big circle of events going on,

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you can walk around and,

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you know, be entertained all day

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and learn something new.

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I think it's it's culture at its finest.

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I would describe the Seafair Powwow as a

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gathering of community.

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A connection to culture

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and a revitalization.

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Powwows actually started about 1879.

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And it was more of a

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just a display of sorts by Buffalo Bill.

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However, when Natives

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when they eventually left,

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these, these what I call

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a sideshow of Buffalo Bill.

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They would go back to the reservation and say,

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you know I think we'd like to have our own powwows.

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So each tribe has their, actually their own

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cultural way of providing powwows.

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Some of them will do it

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for honoring a veterans.

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Something will do it for

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even honoring a Washington's birthday,

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if you can believe that.

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Us we're doing it as part of a

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Seafair Celebration.

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This Powwow started a real small one

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from Bernie.

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It was actually

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informally started by Bernie Whitebear

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in the downtown area

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in the International District

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and by the late eighties.

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And they were able to actually

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put a full fledged powwow on.

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(Native American drumming and singing)

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We're not just one tribe, 

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we're many tribes.

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So we try to represent as many tribes

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as we can

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and engage them and have them included.

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as a family.

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(Native American drumming and singing)

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All of our vendors come from a variety

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of tribal backgrounds.

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All of our vendors have their own

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specialty and our own story

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of how they got started,

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whether they're making drums

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or rattles or different types of food.

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So this is what they call Indian ice cream,

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for lack of a better English term to use.

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It's made from wild soopolallie berries.

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I pick the berries

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and make it into a juice concentrate.

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This has a natural ingredient in it

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called sapien that makes it foam

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in our language.

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sxusem, means to foam.

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Corn, and also served at powwows, cornbread.

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Salmon, of course, wild rice.

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The foods are very, very important.

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You know, even though there's some

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some may not be healthy,

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but they're very tasty.

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(Native American drumming and singing)

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our particular powwow starts

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with a Coastal Grand Entry

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which is of coastal tribes

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and some of our

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Tlingit brothers and sisters that come in

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and bless the grounds of the circle

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(Native American drumming and singing)

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And then we also have

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our Powwow Grand Entry

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We will have a color guard

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and our elders, our head staff,

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which is our head

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lady dancer and our head man dancing

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and all of the dancers

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and their regalia from

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all the different categories,

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all the different dance styles

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will come into the circle

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and bless the circle.

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There are traditional style powwows

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that don't have contests.

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And then there are contemporary style

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powwows that have contests.

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And our Seafair Powwow is a combination

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in harmony of both.

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Your Champion.

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There's, there's all kinds of dances.

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There's Jingle Dress

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there's Crow Hop.

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There's what's called High Step,

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there's fancy dance.

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And Woman's Northern Traditional,

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where they had the beaded long buckskin fringe.

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But up here they have

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the shorter buckskin fringe.

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There's a lot of pieces that are passed down

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from grandparents, parents to

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children and grandchildren

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and some of those pieces

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have been in the family

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for for more generations

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than you can probably count.

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And each dance style

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has its own type of medicine.

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I'm a Jingle Dress Dancer,

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so that's one of the healing dances

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We have fancy shawl dancers,

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very gorgeous, athletic dance style.

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They mainly focus on

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how graceful you are with their shawl

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and your footwork

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and how strong your legs are

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and how you can keep up to the beat.

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Your feet can keep up to the beat.

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We wouldn't be able to have a powwow

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without the drummers,

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without the heartbeat,

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without that soul being there.

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And the dancers

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bring in all of their medicine,

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and every individual brings in their own

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particular type of medicine.

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And what I'm doing

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when I'm dancing out there

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actually is praying for people, you know.

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Dancing for people who can't dance.

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You know.

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The people that come to watch and enjoy

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and that need healing.

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Maybe they're dealing with some hardship at home.

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They come here

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and they watch you, and then they

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they take it home with them.

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And that brings them good feelings to.

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What's beautiful is,

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is when you got all these people

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who all are on the same page

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in the same beat, 

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and they're putting it all together.

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You know, there's a lot of medicine

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that happens outside the circle as well.

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And that's between the connection of

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knowledge being passed down.

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It helps us

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stay connected to to those traditions.

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It helps us stay connected

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to the food that nourishes our bodies.

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It helps us stay connected

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to the stories.

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It's definitely feeding your spirit.

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It gives me that pride you know,

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that I'm so resilient that I made it,

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you know?

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If it wasn't for my grandparents

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and people that fought

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for these rights for us

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to have these events, it just

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it it's

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gives me a real good feeling in my heart.