Originally Posted by Dawg Stylez

Gourd Dancing is a seperate activity from Pow-Wows. I can see the confusion since most of the time around here at least, Gourd Dancing happens before Grand Entry at the Pow-Wow.

Gourd Dancers are Veterans. I don't know what may be happening in all parts of this country, but I am pretty sure that you have to be a Veteran in order to Gourd Dance.

As for the dance and songs - Credit is given to the KCA Tribes of OK - As in Kiowa, Commanche, Apache. They do Gourd Dance - have been for years. These tribes were given the dance by the red wolf - hence the "howl" at the end of each song.

If someone inadvertantly sings the ending song during the gourd Dance, then the dance is over. If it was a legitimate mistake, you could start again, from the begining- but that is up to the drum chief and the head Gourd Dancer, who run the Gourd Dance.

As for requests, there aren't really any since there is a set order to what songs are sung and when. Any requests are usually filtered through the head Gourd Dancer - who then makes the request of the drum for the song. There are family songs, that belong to certain families, such as the Zotigh Family.

I hope that I have answered some questions - Thanks.

Jordan