The annual Morning Star Pow Wow was held on Jan. 11 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. At the Pow Wow, descendants of the Native Americans visited JC to celebrate and reach out to those who aspire to know their culture.

The Morning Star Pow Wow has been held at JC since 2001 and was established to raise funds for St. Labre Indian School in Ashland, Montana. St. Labre teaches children from the Cheyenne and Crow tribes. Last year, JC raised $4,250 for the school.The school is funded by donations, and Vice Principal Gary Scholl started the fund after he heard of the school by going to other Pow Wows around the country.

“They do a excellent job of providing an education for Native American students,” Scholl said.

As the sponsor of the event, Scholl describes a Pow Wow as “a gathering of American Indian people to enjoy traditional singing and dancing and to create a community.” Pow Wow dancing started in the Great Plains and has become a way of celebration for Native American tribes.

Native Americans and JC students and faculty attended the event, but it was also open to the public.

“Beyond just sharing the culture, you get to make friends, and you get to see friends you haven’t seen in a long time,“ Michael Nephew from the Seneca and Cherokee tribes said. Nephew starting coming to the Pow Wow at JC three years ago and has started to invite non-native friends.

“I know a lot of people who have been coming here for a long time and have heard nothing but good things about it,” Nephew said.

The main attraction of the Pow Wow is the drums and dancing. The oldest style of Native American dancing is called Gourd Dancing, where men are in the center dancing and praying, and women stand behind them. The dancers performed Gourd Dancing during the morning until the opening ceremony at 1 p.m.

Over 100 dancers entered the upper gym at the same time during the opening ceremony and were introduced by their tribe. The list of 30 tribes or nations included Cheyenne, Navajo, and Sioux. All of the dancers circled the center of the gym and danced their tribe’s interpretation of the song playing.

As well as dancing, the Pow Wow included food, arts, crafts, and sales in the main hallways and Brown Room. Vendors sold bags, bows, feathers, jewelry, blankets, and other Native American goods.

Throughout the day, six drum groups sang and played as dancers performed their native dances. A variety of different social dances were shown including women and men traditional, fancy shaw, men’s grass dance, men’s fancy, and jingle dress.

“I like getting to see them in action and learning about them,” junior McKenna McFadden said.

“It is very important to pass [our culture] down to the next generation or all of the culture could eventually be lost,” Vaughnda Hilton from the Blackfeet, Seminole, and Creek tribes said. Hilton has attended the Pow Wow since 2003 and is a part of a Native American dance company.

“We have shared our dance and culture all over the world,” Hilton said.

Cherie Germer from the Tewa Navajo tribe, which is from the Black Mesa in Arizona, agrees with the importance of passing down the culture.

“Our ancestors taught oral stories and that is how things get handed down. That is how our legend stays alive and that is how our culture stays alive,” Germer said.

Germer has been coming to the Pow Wow at JC for all 14 years and goes to about 8-19 different Pow Wows a year. This year, she was the head lady dancer.

“It is a honorary position and I set the standard for all the other women,” Germer said.

The head man dancer was Larry Gantz and the arena director was Ted Severe for this year’s Pow Wow.

According to Hilton, “[Scholl] is already setting up for next year and asked me to be head dancer.”

Erica Kelble is a Multimedia Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.