By Times Chronicle Staff
“It is time to hear the drums . . . and feel the medicine of the dances,” is how Ramona Bent, OIB Community Member, described the importance of the first annual Sknrmin (buttercup) Pow-wow on Wednesday March 15 held at Senpaq’cin school.
Dancing and cultural celebrations, family and community, filled the electrifying atmosphere of the gymnasium during the event put on by the Senpaq’cin School Culture Team.
This was the first year holding the pow-wow but they intend to keep this going annually. Bent, entertained the importance of this by saying that, “this is the first pow-wow at our band school and when I heard they were planning to have this event, my heart sang as it is long overdue to bring back the dancing our communities did back in our ancestral days.”
The arrival of the sknrmin, signals the changing of the seasons and this celebration brought over 250 students, elders, community and family members together to attend this important event.
Contributed photo.
The event also celebrates the culmination of a two-month school-wide unit on self expression and cultural celebrations.
Students prepared for the event by creating dance sticks, shields, fans, and feathered hair-accessories for them to wear during the event. Students also learned how to sing and drum a variety of pow-wow songs and how to do the corresponding dances.
The event began with the Grand Entry, with students Delila Graham and Cailin Handley serving as flag bearers and local dignitary Sonja Jensen carrying an eagle staff as the emcee Levi (qwyqwayaxn) Bent welcomed the audience.
After this entry the Victory Song acknowledging local veterans was performed.
Contributed photo.
Then the dancing began. The first dance was the “Tiny Tots Dance” including the schools four to six year olds dancing while showcasing their tmtmutn (outfits) as the grade three students drummed.
Following this was the intertribal dance where everyone participated. Every class had the opportunity to dance while their fellow students drummed and sang to encourage them to do so. After every class was done, student judges announced the champion dancers resulting in an All-Champions dance.
There were some special dances that were for everyone to have fun. The first was the “Numbers Dance”, where students rushed to stand on a number with winners being determined by a bingo draw.
There was a special “Round Dance” where nearly everyone in attendance danced around the gym holding hands while “Round Dance Around the World” by the group Red Bull played.
Grade three student, Grayson Schanuel reflected on the event and said, “the best part of the pow-wow was that everyone got to sing and dance and drum for each other. It made me feel good to be part of.”
Contributed photo.
Tai Flett, a former Senpaq’cin student performed a solo jingle dance where she showed off particular skills she will be taking to the Gathering of Nations Pow-wow in Albuquerque, New Mexico on April 27. It is known as the biggest pow-wow in the world.
The last dance that took place was the “Potato Dance”, where people were invited to partner up and dance while supporting a potato between each partner’s forehead. This event was popular and ended with a tense battle between three teams, eventually giving way to Creedence Gabriel and Morgan Claire-Fry being victorious.
The event concluded with words from local elder, Jane Stelkia, remarking how special this event was and how good it felt to see all the students showing off their culture.
Contributed photo.
