dancinpowwowbabe

Do you think maybe if you had some time you could write me about these traditions? Im ojibwe/nish but my family hasnt mentioned ANYTHING about all this, and now that i know that there ARE certain responsibilities and sacrifices that need to be done in order to properly respect the dress and dance, it would feel weird and wrong just making one and wearing it to a powwow. And learning the native way has been my focus for a few years now when i made the decision to dance again...

usdi

this has been an excellent thread. nya wenha to all of you who have shared your feelings and knowledge.

first i want to say that the youtube video was pretty horrifying for me. those are my people's traditional songs, yes, they're social songs, but traditional nonethless...and i don't like the way they've remixed them with hip hop. we have a hard enough time keeping our traditions w/out messing them up ourselves. i was also horrified that the girls were wearing jingle dresses, and just the fact that they would hitch up any kind of dress in a sacred circle.

secondly, i'm feeling a little ashamed and horrified w/myself. i'm cherokee/onondaga, raised in the longhouse ways. i can understand the frustration w/seeing your dance and dress losing it's meaning, or being misused. i've felt some frustration w/smoke dance because a: it's a man's dance; our feet are never to leave the ground and b: it's getting crazy with constant spinning and wild kicks. we're just supposed to be graceful and respectful, but money is totally changing that. and also the nontraditional changes to the regalia. as someone in a post waaaay back said: you'd never walk into the longhouse in those outfits. and yes, it is frustrating when a non haudenosuanee places over a haudenosaunee. also, i have known a little about the meaning of the jingle dress and when i started dancing i danced fancy because it wasn't my place to dance jingle. then, i have a little girl and she wants to dance jingle, so i make her a dress. like, what the heck? like i said, i'm feeling a little ashamed at my lack of...i don't know...my mind?! i will be making her a fancy outfit, and explaining to her--as much as she can understand at 5--why she won't be wearing that dress anymore.

i think the thing i struggle with most is that everything changes. all of the powwow dances started as something else and evolved into what they are today, and continue to evolve. like, the first thing people ask me when they find out i'm haudenosaunee is: do you smoke dance? i'm like, uh, no, i'm not supposed to. so do i just teach my kids what i know to be right, and hold on to those traditions while others take them and change them for their own purposes? well, yeah, i might have just answered my own question.

i did however dream of myself in a calico jingle dress w/traditional haudenosaunee beadwork a while back...but if it's something i can't do in the proper way, it's not something i would pursue.

redberries

Hey Usdi,

I really can see where you are coming from and understand as well what is eating you inside. I have seen the Utube video and I felt embarassed to see a Jingle dancer pulling her dress up and squating down while shaking her bootie. There is a time and a place for everything and there she was hurting the medicine placed in her dress by misusing the jingles.
However.... Everyone of us has a path to walk and not all Jingle dancers are Ojibway. Not all Jingle dancers had the "The Call". I was told by my Elders a long time ago when I struggle to decide whether I should start dancing, even though I got the dream, that I should listen to my heart.

If your little girl's heart is pulling her towards this dance, you should consider allowing her to dance it.
If she does it with her heart, as a innocent child would, she cannot hurt any medicine. If it is not her path, she will grow out of it and will dance something that she will find more appropriate for herself.
Little Jingle dancers are always so beautiful and cute to watch.

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Inila ye! Imaputakaye!!

Migiziwomen

I think it would best if you were to find an elder in your community to teach you the ways, or go search for one. this is just not something you throw a bunch of words down like, this is how you do it. It will take longer I am sure, but that is how it is supposed to be. this is a great site to get info on, but to learn traditions, and such is really best to be done the old way, the way it was meant to be.
Our dress, and the medicine that comes with it and out of it is special and not meant for dime store teachings. Hope you path leads you where it is supposed to, and good luck to you.

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ojibwaysweetie

Boozhoo Dancinpowwowbabe,

I see you are from Nett Lake. There are many jingle dress dancers in your area. Take asemma to them elders/Ogitchida Ikwewak there and talk to them. My oldest sister had her ceremony there in Nett Lk when she first danced jingle. You are in an area where it is rich with Jingle Dress knowledge.

Miiawé

:)

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IndianaDancers

I am mixed, really mixed Cherokee, Miami, Lumbee. Me and my mother wanted to make sure I did this right, start dancing Jingle that is. For a year I talked to Elders, they even got me in touch with an Ojibwa woman that gave me a lot of advice. Then there is Uncle George. He took me under his wings and has been counciling me at Powwow as to the proper ways. I did get a Blessing and Ceremony. I was properly brought out and I am very proud of my obligations as a "Healing Dancer" I do not compete in my dress either. I think that makes some difference.

Josie (Walela)

tayoonee

I just wanted to say that my daughter started dancing Jingle this year, she's been taught the origins of the dress and has been in "training" for the past year..and was initiated in February. She had a blessing but the ceremony we haven't been able to do. We're navajo and finding someone who is ojib in Denver and who would be willing to do it for her is hard. I've decided not to let her dance in her jingle until she has the ceremony...anyone know of someone who can do this for us? My daughter is young but has always been a healing presence...she is nurturing and caring and is always there wanting to help. When she heard that jingle was a healing dance, there was no other dance she would be interested in.
I have made her first dress that she was initiated in and which she would wear for the ceremony and am currently making her second that she can wear for dancing. She's not particularly interested in competition...she just loves to dance and thinks of people who are in need of healing while she does. If anyone knows who could do this for us...I would deeply appreciate it.

ojibwaysweetie

Sometime one has to travel to seek answers.

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native_flutterby

ed zachery ojib sweety ed zachery...

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There can only be 2 moccasins on your feet at one time...however life has given me many pair...along with a needle, thread and really sharp teeth to cut with...lmao


http://www.myspace.com/anty_tweeb

ojibwaysweetie

Colorado is chi waasa!

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