On most days, the main court of the Campus Recreation Center hosts amateur basketball and tennis matches. This Saturday, it was filled with the culture of generations as N.A.T.I.O.N.S. hosted its annual Pow-Wow event.

The advertisement leading up to the event promised Native American dance, food, crafts and music, and the pow-wow delivered.

The Grand Entry procession at 1 p.m. featured the dancers, clothed in full regalia that have often been created piece-by-piece over years, entering the circular arena to the sound of flutes, traditional song and a loud, rhythmic drumbeat.

“Basically, a pow-wow is a gathering of community, of sharing a culture,” said Michael Augsburger, faculty adviser for N.A.T.I.O.N.S. and kinesiology, nutrition and physical education professor. Augsburger said the idea behind the event is encompassed in the Lakota phrase “mita-kuye-o-ya-shin,” which Augsburger translates as, “We’re all one family, part of the big circle.”
Augsburger, who claims heritage with the Miami, said the Pow-Wow featured representation of “all kinds of tribal people,” from Potawotami to Ojibwe, and even a dance from an Aztec group toward dinner.

The lunch featured chicken and beef burritos, and vendors all around the edges of the room displayed a mixture of cultures.

“The Aztecs valued the spiny oyster more than gold,” said sophomore anthropology major Haley Whiting.

Whiting said selling jewelry and crafts at pow-wows is often a livelihood for vendors, and that each event has a process for evaluating authenticity. Although the vendor Simply Shells generally goes to pow-wows around Belvidere, Aurora and Naperville, others came from around the world, representing countries such as Ecuador. Those in attendance hailed from all over the country.

“It shows how the people in DeKalb are trying to appreciate our culture, as well,” said Mayra Molina-Vera, a senior French and elementary education student.

She said she was surprised to see the presence of Inca and Azteca cultures, expecting the pow-wow to include more local cultures.

“I felt like I could connect,” she said.

Augsburger said he was thankful that N.A.T.I.O.N.S. was able to host the Pow-Wow at the Rec, but hopes in the future that NIU will construct a Native American Studies Center, as it has for other minorities such as African Americans, Asians and Latinos.

Both he and Whiting said events such as the Pow-Wow are more than just food and crafts, and that the people are more than just a novelty.

“They are genuine native Americans trying to express part of their culture,” Whiting said.

Editor’s note: Haley Whiting is a former Northern Star employee.

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