‘A good day to be Anishinaabe’

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This article was published 22/06/2019 (2050 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Ralph Ndebele went from bystander to dancer in an instant at the Indigenous Days Live powwow Saturday at The Forks grounds.

Ndebele and his friend Charmaine Borden took up the announcer’s invitation for anyone to join in the intertribal powwow. They blended in and kept time with those in full regalia who whirled, danced and sang to the beat from the drum circle.

“I have never seen a powwow before. I just saw on TV there was going to be a powwow and my main interest was the show in the evening,” said Ndebele, who is from Zimbabwe and moved to Winnipeg five years ago.

“We kind of watched from a distance what they were doing and then said, ‘OK, now it’s time to join in’ and we just followed. It’s nice to see different cultures and they make you feel welcome.”

Borden said she recently found out from family members that she has Métis heritage and wants to learn more about it.

The IDL powwow, held in partnership with Manito Ahbee, was ongoing throughout the day with five drum groups — Spirit Sands, Whitefish Bay, Assiniboine Juniors, Rocky Lake and Walking Buffalo — taking turns providing the music while competing for top honours.

About 80 dancers competed in 18 categories and participated in the intertribal dances.

The Winnipeg event was joined by simultaneous events in Whitehorse and Calgary for the 13th edition of Indigenous Day Live. Hosted by APTN, Indigenous Day Live “is the largest celebration of National Indigenous Peoples Day and the summer solstice in Canada.”

In Winnipeg, the event began with a sunrise ceremony and sacred fire followed by a daytime program of activities and an evening concert, all free of charge.

“Today is a good day to be Anishinaabe,” said announcer Carl Stone. “We want to celebrate all our visitors from all nations here at The Forks, where it all began.”

The Forks, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, is a historical meeting place that dates back 6,000 years for Indigenous people, and later itinerant European traders, various settlers, railway and riverboat workers. It remains a meeting place and boasts more than four million visitors each year.

“There are dancers who come and don’t compete. That’s the intertribals, when anybody can come up and dance. You don’t have to have regalia, you don’t have to be Indigenous; you can just get up and dance,” said Sandy Fox, the Manito Ahbee operations manager.

“That’s how people learn about the culture. To be a part of it, to see what happens at a powwow and to get involved. It’s a great place for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to immerse themselves, seeing the dances, being included and feeling that energy that goes on at the powwow.”

Elder Harriet Prince, who is from Sagkeeng First Nation but moved to Vancouver three decades ago, said powwow draws her home every summer.

Prince, 78, said she only began dancing in powwows in the 1980s.

“My auntie was alive then and she was dancing and my sister-in-law. They were much older than me. Family brought me but it’s the drums, too. I love the big drums. They’re so healing,” Prince said.

Wearing a jingle dress with intricate beading and rows of silver metal jingle cones that she made herself, Prince pointed out the light green colour of the dress’s tunic.

“The colours that I wear were given to me through a medicine person along with my name. They don’t give you the names; they retrieve them. Mikinaak, that means turtle. That’s how I was known in the spirit world, so the medicine people just retrieved it for me. The colours he gave me were two shades of green and white,” Prince said.

In addition to the powwow, activities included the Best Bannock contest, kids activities, a skateboard competition, artisans, food vendors and a fiddle contest — all featuring contributions from First Nation, Inuit and Métis peoples.

The evening concert, headlined by Buffy Sainte-Marie and Randy Bachman, was shown on APTN and livestreamed on indigenousdaylive.ca.

ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca