The Native American Student Union hosted their second annual Powwow April 2, giving University students the opportunity to experience and celebrate Native American culture through music and dance.
While NASU hosted the Powwow at Hereford Lawn, the drum beats and chants could be heard from as far as Kellogg dorm. The echoing music and the colorful, authentic regalia of the visiting participants provided attendees with a fully immersive experience.
In the fall NASU focused on smaller-scale cultural events and promoting interest within the University community, but plans for the Powwow occupied the organization for the majority of their spring semester.
“It’s a semester long funding application process, and publicity process,” Vice President of Outreach and Financial Officer Evelyn Immonen, a second-year College student, said. “This year we [had] more co-sponsorships, which I’m really excited about, having the different booths and having more vendors than we did last year.”
Immonen said she thinks the event is important because in the eastern United States there are not many people who have interacted with a Native American person before.
“I want this to be an opportunity for everyone who comes to see and interact with this culture that means so much to me, personally, and to other members of our club,” said Immonen said.
Sydney Johnson, a fourth-year Engineering student and NASU member, also appreciated how the Powwow, an essential “coming together of cultures,” gave attendees “an opportunity … to get a peek” into Native American life.
The Powwow was centered on the dance circle, which featured dancers from across Virginia, and the Yapatoko and Zotigh drum groups, who played traditional Native American music. All attendees were welcome to learn and partake in the intertribal dances.
Around the spectators, in addition to informational booths representing Virginia Native American tribes like the Monacan Nation and the Nottoway, vendors sold Native American art, craftsmanship and jewelry, .
Allard Allston, husband of Chief Lynette Allston of the Nottoway tribe, manned the Nottoway tribe’s booth, which featured historical information and an exhibit of crafts and artwork.
“A lot of the Nottoway … work in the Newport News area, around the shipyard related industries … but some of the members still carry on the crafts and things like that,” Allston said.
NASU co-sponsored the event with the Memorialization for Enslaved Laborers.
“I’m excited that spectators [could], in-between songs, or in-between dances, learn about a different side of U.Va.’s history, about [how] these lands once belonged to the Monacan Nation,” Immonen said.
Immonen emphasized the importance of celebration through the Powwow and other NASU events, because, she said, it is rare for only discussions of Native Americans to be in celebratory contexts.
“You’ll hear about these awful things that happen on reservations, or you’ll hear activists speak out when people are stereotyping us in one form or another, but this [was] a chance for us to move past all that and to just welcome everyone into our culture, to celebrate that with them,” Immonen said. "It’s just a huge celebration and a huge chance for us to show everyone what we’re proud of, and for us to all celebrate together.”
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