at the Uni building in Albuquerque. Even the bikers got in on the action. They called the run to the pit “Rolling Thunder” lots of indians on Harleys.
I liked some of the humour demonstrated on the articles we saw for sale, even custom skate boards.
One bumper sticker I nearly bought reads “ I am the rez boy your mum warned you about.!”.
We saw the entry of the dancers, all 3000+ of them, led by the eagle feather staff.
We were allowed to photograph much of the proceedings but if an eagle feather falls to the ground all recording is to stop while the special ceremony to recover the feather takes place.
The
music for the dancing is supplied by groups of drummers around the edge of the pit.
CAROL'S BIT.
Today was the last day of the gathering of the nations. This is where the Native American nations from the US and Canada come together for a big pow wow. There are competitions for the best dancers in several groups, a miss native America, and best regalia. There is a lot of singing and dancing, and some of the singers, mostly girls have very powerful voices.
The regalia is very colourful and inventive, although not always traditional. This year's colour seems to be flourescent lime green or ditto in candy pink.
A lot of traditional dress though. Feathers are used a lot, and the head-dresses especially on the men are magnificent. They wear large bells around their ankles that sound in time with the drums.
One of the dances is to see how much the girls can make their dress swing, and this dance is seen a lot in films.
The dresses have a lot of long fringes made from wool or leather thong, that swing with the drums and gather momentum. Silver or tin cones are sewn onto the dresses in 'shimmy fringes' that glitter and move with the music. The sound stays in time with the beat of the drums.
Around the outside of the main arena are Indian market stalls.
These stalls can only sell genuine Indian made stuff, and I made a dent in my credit card with a heavy weight 'wolf' 'bracelet, and pendant.
The Indians are very polite and courteous , and tend to take the 'micky' out of themselves in a gentle way. The stall holders always said hello, and said 'thank you for buying from us' or shook my hand.
From what was being said from the podium, it is very obvious that they haven't forgotten what was done to them , but they all stick together and help each other. The money raised from this gathering will help the Indian people, and of course they have their casino's for the white man to lose his money in.
The goods on sale aren't cheap either. There are some excellent silversmiths here and their pieces of jewelry are beautiful, custom made if required.
This gathering is something that should not be missed , and is unique
John's Bit
The number of seriously overweight people was quite astounding. Mind you we saw that the standard meal of Fry bread and full sugar coke on offer from the food court must be a contributory factor.
The organization was slick, it had to be with hundreds of tribes, 3000+ dancers and many singers to showcase. Everybody seemed to be good humoured and the M/C kept his cool even when people were tardy.
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