For the People Pow Wow serves as ‘family reunion’

To dance is to pray.

Linda Coulter, the head lady dancer during Saturday’s 13th annual For the People Pow Wow, said all parts of native dance have meaning.

“You dance to the drums,” Coulter continued. “The drums are the heartbeat of Mother Earth. You dance on Mother Earth and pray.”

More than 500 people on Saturday attended the first day of the pow wow. The event will continue from noon5 p.m. today at the Jefferson City Jaycees Cole County Fairgrounds, 1445 Fairgrounds Road. Admission is free.

Organizers hold the pow wow each year to share traditions and cultures of native people, according to Greg Olson, an organizer from Columbia.

He said it’s not easy to conduct a pow wow in Missouri because natives in the state are scattered about.

“Missouri is interesting because we’re not a state that has a reservation or a settlement of native people,” Olson said. “Because of Missouri’s history, natives are all over the state.”

They’ve essentially been pushed out.

“This — and other pow wows in the state — is an opportunity for the people to come together,” he said. “It’s kind of like a family reunion. Most people know each other now and have been coming every year.”

They don’t get to be around other native people most of the time, so the pow wow represents a chance to experience their culture, be indigenous and have fun, Olson said.

The event features a couple dozen native vendors offering handmade jewelry, dream catchers, some animal hides, knives, flutes, clothing and arts and crafts.

The event is expensive to host, Olson said. But organizers are determined to continue offering it.

Coulter, of Elk Creek, said she and her son participate in a number of cultural activities. They have monthly sweats and a yearly Sun Dance. She said she was honored to be selected as the head lady dancer.

Lori Weir and her sister drove from Kansas City to witness the pow wow, saying it was their first. On the

way, they stopped in Russellville and picked up their 95-year-old mother. They thought it would be a wonderful way to get their mother out of her house.

“We’re so excited,” Weir said. “I love the culture. I love the crafts and the dance. It’s so unique.”

They wanted to see what the Gourd Dance was all about. The dance, according to the event program, is a men’s dance (done by warriors) and was likely to have originated with the Kiowa tribe. It honors all warriors and veterans.

Weir’s mother and sister started shopping from vendors surrounding the dance area as soon as they arrived.

Her mother, Nadine Marr, smiled as she watched the dancers.

“I don’t get out too much anymore,” Marr said. “It’s nice. I’m glad I could come.”