While visiting Iowa, we went to the 99th annual Meskwaki Pow-wow, an event that happens once a year and reunites members of the tribe on their settlement. They were very particular to note their tribe lives on a settlement, NOT a reservation. in the mid-1800′s, noticing the trend of shuffling tribes around as suited others, the tribe pooled their resources and purchased the land they still own to this day (they recently opened a casino on it). You can read more about the Meskwaki here. It had rained the night before, turning the meeting grounds into a muddy mess. It was also apparently ‘senior day’ explaining the numerous busloads dropping elderly passangers off. Strangely, all wore superclean white athletic shoes and all were superclean when I passed them on my way out. Elderly magic!
Don’t let the tipi fool you; the traditional Meskwaki hut was in full effect, though with more modern coverings:
The dome shape of the tent structures built by visiting tribe members was identical to the historic example set up towards the back, but where that one used reeds, these used the more practical, and I certainly hope waterproof, tarp.
Yep, that’s Meskwaki kids playing with cheap plastic bows and arrows. Sigh.
I didn’t realize he was posing for me standing in a half foot of water until I saw it again here.
There was a medium-sized tent full of historical items and facts:
This is a decorative axe,
a gold French ‘trading ring’,
examples of decor and tools,
and they had an entire book of tribe members in the armed services. The Meskwaki have participated in every war from WWI onward in one branch or another.
Really though, most visitors skipped the history. There were 3 things they came to the pow-wow for-
Foodstuffs
Ok, if they aren’t going to be PC I don’t see why I should try.
Ultimate pregnancy combo!
Yes, Saucy is an orderable dish; it’s pulled pork smothered in BBQ sauce.
This is the most ethnic food in one spot I saw in Iowa.
I ordered an Indian Taco, which consists of fry bread and the veggie makings of a taco dumped on top, with a generous portion of salsa (El Paso brand, if my taste buds are correct). Fry bread, in texture and taste, is very similar to the Italian fried dough treat zeppole, but less sweet. Also similar to zeppole, treating it like normal bread feels wrong and makes your meal 10x heavier.
Tchochkies
If they weren’t selling foodstuffs, the booths were selling Native American goods and trinkets. Not Meskwaki stuff, ‘Native American’ in the most general sense of the words stuff. Lots of dreamcatchers, beads, feathers, and airbrushed women fading into wolves.
Dancing
The big draw for most were the various ceremonial dances. Unfortunately the muddiness and rain put off the scheduled start time by an hour. The announcer charmingly filled in, musing about hot dogs, querying the audience on their favorite teams, and good-naturedly ribbing the dancers, all in a low-key voice.
Here’s the dancers getting ready for the opening ceremony:
The narrator continued his commentary through the dancing:
Here they have the elders, dressed in the traditional Meskwaki style (they were a northern tribe, located in modern-day Canada, hence the mostly fur outfit).
The next day we went to an ‘estate sale’, a phrase that gives inaccurate aura to the casual proceedings of the day. Essentially someone’s entire house of stuff, similar to what it might look like if your or my grandparent’s house was emptied out, was put on tables in a small warehouse. We walked around and looked at the items, sat down and watched them brought up, and bit by bit all was sold to the highest bidder. With rare exception, none of the items went over $10. Exceedingly annoying was the practice of, should an item not sell, grabbing the next nearest item and lumping it in. This is how, bidding on some vintage buttons, I ended up with vintage buttons, a creepy 4-going-on-40 doll, old thread, a box of clips, and darning needles. Between this and the fact nothing was announced, not even a ‘here’s a lamp’ or ‘lookit this pan’, you had to pay sharp attention and remember what table the stuff you wanted was as it was shuffled around to the front. Below are some examples of items lumped together in sale:
I didn’t realize ‘Suzy Homemaker’ was a toy; I thought it was a descriptive phrase my mom used to describe a person like Martha Stewart. Go figure.
