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I got to the site (Elon,VA-Amherst County) in the late AM.
This was my 1st powwow.Had a good time,bought some souvenirs,and plan
to come back next year.(Assuming it’s not the same weekend as Easter or
Pentecost on the Greek Orthodox Schedule.)
Grand entry was at 12PM.
As a long-time student of both AA and NA history,my only regret is that I didn’t get to speak to the former Tuskegee Airman.Maybe next year.
MC was very helpful.
The vehicle exit wasn’t too well marked;I did write staff about that.I’m from another county,1st timer,and wouldn’t automatically know.
The only thing that spoiled this beautiful day was seeing a young man
while I was leaving wearing a t-shirt saying(?):
“My (NDN?) name is Runs With Beer” (paraphrase)
I may be wrong regarding that t-shirt,but if true,I don’t appreciate that
racist grafitti portraying NAs as drunks.:mad:
Anyone else make it out today or yesterday?
Roca
P.S.-I didn’t do this,so don’t get the wrong impression,but is it ok to ululate?
Or,is ululation a bad habit among some powwow “newbies”/
Glad to see you made it there. I wish I could have gone, but we just made a long road trip last weekend with Felicia’s graduation, and I just couldn’t take the time or muster the energy.
We’re planning on making the Cheroenhaka Nottoway powwow July 21st. Hope some folks from here can make it.
The only thing that spoiled this beautiful day was seeing a young man
while I was leaving wearing a t-shirt saying(?):
“My (NDN?) name is Runs With Beer” (paraphrase)
I may be wrong regarding that t-shirt,but if true,I don’t appreciate that
racist grafitti portraying NAs as drunks.
Well, I have to say that the ride down there was very beautiful. However, my friend and I both did not receive that good ol’ “Southern Hospitality.” My spirit kept telling me to leave but I was going to tough it out. Some of the general public was just rude (ex: breaking in line and not acknowledging my presence, etc.). But what really was a turn off was when I went to one of the food vendors and the lady there taking orders did not even acknowledge my presense for about 1 minute and then she looked up and asked me “what do you want?” Excuse me?!?!?!?!?!?!! What do I want? How about customer service. WOW!!!!!
Then, my friend and I went to a slushy vender and the guy making the drink did not even say hello he just asked, “what flavor do you want?” with a snobbish attitude while wearing a RedSkins CAP!! What?!?!?!?!?!? Then his partner took my friends money without even saying nonething. My friend said “thank you” and he did not even get a response!!! Then I saw a few vendors and some of the general public sporting CONFEDERATE FLAGS!!!! Wait a minute, I thought this was a POW WOW? Isn’t it suppose to be all about Native American culture?!?!?!? Specifically the Monacan Nation Culture!?!?!?!? Yes, I am aware that the Monacan Nation has some members who are mixed with the local Whites but come on now. I’ve never been to a Pow Wow and seen such.
Anyway, my friend and I discussed what we both experienced on our way back and we both agreed that we will not be back to “support” the Monacan Pow Wow again.
Oh yea, I went to the tent to sign a petition for VITAL (Federal Recog. VA Tribes) and I noticed that there was one woman chit chatting with a person at the tent regarding fed. recog. the VA Tribes. He was very helpful while explaining the current issues but when I signed the petition, he did not even open his mouth to share any information. I truely believe that if I did not give him any eye contact, he would not have said anything. He eventually did say, “Thanks.”
Wow!!!!!!! This was the first time I’ve ever arrived at a Pow Wow late and left early. My friend and I both felt as if “they” just took our money with an attitude. Never again!
Oh yea, I could count on one hand how many people there who “looked like me” if you know what I mean.
Hi everyone,
I am so pleased with the comfort zone here at the forum. The acceptance and and caring for all of us despite our “blend” of color. I see for all in the south it is so hard to go to a simple gathering or pow wow…. what a shame that others can not see the benefit of our “shades” and that we are all Indian. It makes me sad.
Bravo to you Optimistic and others who have braved the “ignorance and shunning” of others.
Janette
Re: #3
With regard to “how many people there who looked like me”,one of my relatives asked me how many “blacks” were there.I told him,”Depends how you want to slice it.”Quite a few of Saturday’s dancers and other NDNs were black-looking.
In fact,I had a rather interesting and informative conversation with a Black Indian dancer and his wife from a Tidewater VA tribe.Hope to run into them again one day!
I was also at the VITAL tent and signed the petition.I introduced myself,
said I’d been following the recognition debate,signed the petition,and bought
some t-shirts later.I’m not sure who you spoke with,but the man I spoke to
is Upper Mattaponi.Might have been some tribal dynamic in there (see profile: “Roca”),hard to say.I didn’t get “attitude” from him.
I’m a Civil War buff so I’m not going to say the Confederate flag should never be shown.I won’t weigh in on the flags and caps.
2 weeks before I went down,I printed and read 2 lists of powwow etiquette.
Some of the attendees elevated their feet onto the hay bales that were along the inside border of the circle.Someone even took the seat of an elder
to my left and took picture(s)!:eek:If I could find lists of etiquette rules,they
could have done the same!
I hope in the future,1 Optimistic,your powwow experiences will be better.
Roca
Good Morning,
I do respect your opinion and experience. I am glad that you still had a great time. 🙂
I am sooooooooooooo looking forward to Occaneechi-Saponi Pow Wow on June 9th in Mebane, N.C. This Pow Wow will “definitely” make up for the “not so great” experiences my friend and I had at the Monacan Pow Wow this year. :rolleyes:
Now that’s familiar territory.
We, too, are looking forward to OBSN since it’s literally in our backyard. With the rising gas prices, that has really put a dent in our traveling this year. And we have missed the connecting with old friends and family.
Roca, glad you had a good time…a pow wow experience can have a broad range of reactions as you can tell. Do you think you will be able to make the one July 21st? Several people from Saponitown will be attending that one.
I have learned through the years that the more eagerly I anticipate attending a pow wow, usually the more I am let down that it didn’t turn out exactly as I had hoped…but, then, I have been to pow wows that I wasn’t really sure about attending and had a blast. So just goes to show that Creator has a hand in things.
I don’t think I’ll be able to make the one on July 21.(Is this the Cheroenhaka
one?)I’d probably have to book a room and stay the night;it’s kind of far.Same
with the Mattaponi on June 16th.:((I’m Mattaponi descended).OBSN also.
If I can get more accurate directions,address,or zip code I might go to the
Shenandoah Valley Powwow.Yahoo couldn’t read the address they gave at
virginiapowwow.com.Being in Central VA,this is right in my neighborhood;should take about 2 hrs or less to drive there.Monacan Powwow
took about 1 1/2 hours to drive to.
I’m worried about gas too.
Roca
I may have a connection to some $45/night rooms if anyone’s interested. As for gas prices, heaven help us.
Hey the petro here is only $5 dallors agallon! or $1.25 a litre.
Still I get around just not as much, but they tell me it’s going down this week, yah right back to $1 a litre, which is not so bad!!
I recall 45 cents not that long ago for gas….. where did time and prices go to?
(I also used to get a movie, chocolate bar, and soda for .50 cents).
Tom, you just made me feel better…I only paid 3.09 Sunday…and the prices went up to 3.23 this week here.
Linda, we might be interested in the room deal…where is it? We usually try to go up the Friday night and spend some time getting some R & R.
Roca, you might try calling the number for Shenandoah Valley and see if you can get better directions from someone local. The number listed on thundertrails.com is 540-477-9616 (10-7). I did that when we went to East Bend…drove right to the pow wow.
Becky
Try our prices. I just filled up with 3.88 today. Or, rather, I put in 3/4 a tank. I just can’t bring myself to fill it up at these prices. Our van takes $60.00 to fill it up, but its mileage is not too bad. I cannot imagine what it costs to drive things like large RVs. We have a small travel trailor that we are trying out this weekend that cuts into our mileage, but not to a huge amount.
But we can’t bring the trailor there this year. We will be out west.
Techteach
For whoever was asking about directions to the Shenandoah Valley event: Something’s wrong with the link on the virginiapowwow.com site for the Shenandoah Valley powwow. Clicking on the address takes you to a Yahoo maps site in Louisa County, hundreds of miles east of Mount Jackson in the Valley. Use the address and input it into Google maps or another service. Mount Jackson is between Woodstock and New Market and nowhere newar Louisa County. I don’t know why the strange map results, but Louisa County is nowhere near where the site is.
Michael Dunn
I plan on attending Cheroenhaka on July 21 as well (wether I actually get there or not is a whole nother matter, its a bit of a travel from my location). But since I’ll be working serious overtime the next 8 weeks, I thought it would be a good idea to then take a break and go visit grandparents, and maybe do some powwowing on the side.
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