SOU annual powwow returns for two-day cultural celebration | Top Stories [Video]

ASHLAND, Ore. – Southern Oregon University held one of their largest student-led events today, the annual powwow. This celebration of native culture brought crowds to showcase their tribe, collaborate with other tribes, and give non-native guests an opportunity to learn more about native cultures.

“Each tribe has their own culture,” Don Moccasin, a dancer from the Nakota Tribe, said. “ It’s a mix of different cultures together, and we share a commonality that we’re all native people.

Each tribe showcased their traditional music and costumes as well as showed their traditional dances. Showing the meaning behind these practices, not just as celebrations, but as a spiritual and cultural practice.

“We are setting down prayers with our bodies,” Said Lidia Doniz, a dancer from the Kaqchikel Mayan tribe, “to connect with our ancestors and connect and create community.”

The day was a celebration, but also a day of reconnection and …