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Sam Dunaway | News Editor<\/span><\/p>\n Bells that decorate clothing ring with every step, a drum beat that\u2019s so loud that it vibrates the walls. Positive energy radiated from the arena during Multicultural Student Union\u2019s 25th annual Pow Wow \u2014 the largest annual celebration of Native American culture on Western\u2019s campus.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWith the Native American people, we don\u2019t have many ways of coming together and celebrating,\u201d explained Nick Sixkiller, master of ceremonies for the event and member of the Cherokee of Oklahoma tribe. Sixkiller has been the emcee for Western\u2019s annual Pow Wow for nearly a decade. <\/span><\/p>\n The Pow Wow provides an opportunity for Native Americans to share various dances from their culture. These dances include both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s Fast and Fancy Dance, the Jingle Dress Dance and the men\u2019s and women\u2019s Traditional Dance that, according to Sixkiller, \u201crepresents all of our Indian nations.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n All dances have a story; the Jingle Dress Dance originated from a Ojibwe man\u2019s vision that provided instructions for a dance that would cure his ill daughter. Regalia, or Native American outfits, for the Jingle Dress Dance include rows of metal cones, referred to in the Ojibew language as \u2018ziibaaska \u2018iganan,\u2019 that ring with every step. Sixkiller commented that, when the arena is filed with dancers, \u201cit sounds like a rainstorm in Oregon.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Native American dances are fluid and allow an opportunity for personal expression. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYour vision is in your own head dancing and you just gotta listen to the drum beat,\u201d Sixkiller explained. The drum beat represents the heartbeat of Mother Earth and how she gives life to the native people. \u201cThere\u2019s no one style of dancing. It\u2019s what\u2019s in your body and how you want to dance this style.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n In addition to the entertainment for the 12-hour event on April 28, Native American vendors brought in handmade items to share their culture with others.<\/span><\/p>\n One of the vendors, Tina, is a South American Indian from the Andes. She displayed hand carved wooden flutes, rings made from coconut shells and twisted wire jewelry.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIn the old times, we didn\u2019t have electricity, we didn\u2019t have anything,\u201d said Tina. \u201cSo what we learned to do is things by hand. We learned how to weave, we learned how to do jewelry, we learned how to work with the animal furs. We just had the whole time in our hands.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Since she moved to Oregon, she shares her love of working with her hands with her friends and children. She fondly looks back on the days growing up in the Andes.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt was busy, busy life,\u201d Tina remembered, smiling. \u201cIt was wonderful.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Pow Wows are not only an opportunity to entertain with song and dance, but they are also a time for Native Americans to gather and educate others on their history. Sixkiller hopes that more people learn about the true story of the Native Americans.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re the first persons here on this land and we\u2019re ignored. And we can\u2019t change it,\u201d Sixkiller expressed. \u201cIt\u2019s just irritating. We\u2019re trying to get teachers in schools to talk more about natives in truth rather than what the old history books are talking about.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n He explained that one way that people can learn about the culture is attending an event like this.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d like to invite everybody to come to a Pow Wow and learn more about American Indians and not what history has taught them over the years,\u201d Sixkiller encouraged.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI feel like we aren\u2019t really shown Native Americans and their culture,\u201d said MSU\u2019s Social Membership Director and sophomore Gabbie Acevedo-Solis. \u201cIt\u2019s good to be aware and be informed as well as celebrate.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Acevedo-Solis also encourages individuals to experience the various Native American dances at their annual Pow Wow. She explained that the positive energy on the dance floor spreads throughout the audience and can be felt by everyone; \u201cYou have to see it for yourself and you\u2019ll realize how beautiful it really is.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Contact the author at journalnews@wou.edu<\/span><\/p>\n Photo by: Paul F. Davis<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sam Dunaway | News Editor Bells that decorate clothing ring with every step, a drum beat that\u2019s so loud that it vibrates the walls. Positive energy radiated from the arena during Multicultural Student Union\u2019s 25th annual Pow Wow \u2014 the largest annual celebration of Native American culture on Western\u2019s campus. \u201cWith the Native American people, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1030,"featured_media":7661,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1030"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}