Tag: Red Pheasant Reserve

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Writing Process

When I was writing Mary and her Metis Grandma, ^{_{https://ritajasperart.com/category/mary-and-her-metis-grandma/}} I did a lot of research, some of which had to do with Powwow. I went about re-reading my Grandma’s memoirs, talking to Elders, and reading websites. I came across this internet article called Recovering Stolen Dances – the Dance Current. (2022, February 8)  ¹

This is a summarized snippet from the article

Indigenous Powwow or dance in Canada has a long, rich, and diverse history. Across Turtle Island ² different regions and communities create and practice their own unique dance traditions. For example, Plains First Nations hold powwows, the Lakota people perform rabbit dances, and the Haudenosaunee share smoke dances.

Purpose of Powwow

In addition, each dance serves an important purpose, such as celebrating culture, honouring ancestors, healing communities, and bringing people together. Some say that the dances not only showed fighting skills but also represented different animals that they hunted; the dances were of respect.

Grandma wrote about Pierre, a family friend and very respected Powwow dancer from the reserve next door.

In Granny’s own words, here is a snippet from Mary and her Metis Grandma.

…Pierre, the husband and the baby’s father, was one of the special war and powwow dancers. ³ …Pre-contact warrior societies were strictly for men, who would use music and dance to prepare themselves for battle by simulating moves such as sneaking up on an enemy warrior. They danced to the beat of the drum. 

Before warriors left for battle or a hunt, community members encouraged them as they watched. When they came back from battle, the warriors re-enacted their war experiences through dancing. The dances demonstrated what they had done against the enemy and the various moves they used to avoid injury, capture, or death! They showed each other how to fight or hunt.

Grandma also talks about how Pierre could move the skin on his back like ripples going across water. I wasn’t sure if Grandma was exaggerating, but years later, I was talking with Delores Smith, a friend, who told me that she had seen dancers up north do exactly that.

Furthermore, even within powwows, dancers perform many different styles. Men and women compete in traditional dances and fancy dances, while others perform the grass dance or the jingle dress dance. Through these powerful movements, Indigenous communities preserve their history, express identity, and pass traditions on to the next generation.

Below is another little snippet from Mary and her Metis Grandma.

Powwows were illegal after 1885 and, as textbooks say, until 1951, but Red Pheasant Reserve had a Powwow in 1915

The Red Pheasant Powwow Grandma Pearl told me about took place sometime before 1915. This is important because many Canadian history books say that powwows were not allowed until around 1951. But in Grandma Pearl’s story, the events happened before they moved to Battleford, which wasn’t until 1915. I know my memory is correct because Grandma Pearl wrote about this event in her memoirs, which she published.

So obviously, they had an illegal powwow and only invited those they could trust. It’s the same when people were going to a party, where they knew everyone was going to be smoking ‘wacky tobackeeeey’ before it was decriminalized—do you think they invited the police? I don’t think so. It would therefore seem likely that the Indian Agent was not invited to the powwow.

And this powwow, the first one Grandma remembers, was special…

1. Recovering Stolen Dances – the Dance Current. (2022, February 8). The Dance Current. Retrieved December 2023 from 
   https://thedancecurrent.com/article/recovering-stolen-dances/#:~:text=Indigenous%20dance%20and%20dance%2Dcentred%20ceremonies%20were%20banned%20by%20law,was%20later%20banned%20in% ↩︎
2. Canada and the USA; some include S. America as part of Turtle Island ↩︎
3. Powwow Dances. (Apr 7, 2016). The Canadian Encyclopedia. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/powwow-dances ↩︎