Paul G

The sounds of Native American drums rang out again in the Okehocking Preserve Saturday as the township’s Parks and Recreation Department held its second annual Traditional Powwow.

Dancers resplendent in colorful costumes swirled to the beat of huge drums and powerful songs sung by bands of singers in native tongues.

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"This is a celebration of life," said Sheron Ward, the partner of Albert Ward, a Mikmaq Nation spiritual leader and teacher who presided over the powwow. "To be happy and enjoy the day. To celebrate everything we’ve been given."

While dancers came from all over the Eastern seaboard, Albert Ward traveled 20 hours from his home in the Eel Ground Reserve in New Brunswick, Canada. In Canada the reservations are called reserves, said Sara Sheehan, of the Red Willow Education Center, one of the sponsors. Red Willow is a non-profit formed to bring Native American teachings and traditional ceremonies to interested people.

In a traditional powwow, said Sheehan, everybody can dance. America’s first European settlers probably came to powwows to learn how to hunt or grow crops from the Native Americans, she said.

They may have come to this very parcel of land -- 300 years ago. The Okehocking Preserve is adjacent to the site of the first Native American land grant in the American colonies. In 1702, the Okehocking clan, a band of the Lenni-Lenape, was granted 500 acres by William Penn.

Chris Bradley, 18, of Willistown, who does not boast any Native-American blood, is a grass dancer, a category of dancer that was popular among the Plains Indians. A Boy Scout with Troop 78, Bradley made his costume with the help of his mother.

Foot-long strands of yarn hanging from his shirt and pants undulated when he moved. A heavy beadwork harness covered his chest, and a headress of porcupine quills and deer fur rested on his head. Sheep bells on his ankles rung out with every step. Bradley has been a grass dancer for the last four to five years.

"It’s fun," he said. He particularly enjoys competition powwows. Bradley hones his skill by watching videos of other grass dancers.

His companion dancer and scout in Troop 78 is Daniel Dufoe, 11, of Malvern, a hoop dancer. Wearing ribbon-embroidered shirt and pants, a heavy beaded breastplate and a beaded choker. Daniel danced by manipulating the hoops with his feet.

The boys are two of the eight-member Ahtaquaoweh Moccasin Dancers in Troop 78, said Mike Spritzer, the assistant scoutmaster. "Ahtaquaoweh" means "moccasin" in the Lenni-Lenape language, according to Spritzer.

Another Boy Scout Troop from West Chester came to the powwow, and Mary McLoughlin, director of Parks, Recreation and Preserves, set them to work handing out programs.

McLoughlin said that last year about 400 people attended the one-day event. This, year with the help of money from their recycling grant and sponsors, they were able to have a two-day powwow.

"Our mission is to bring unique events to the community of Willistown and our neighbors," McLoughlin said.

Bill Richmond of Coatesville said he couldn’t decided whether to go to the anti-war march in Washington D.C. or the powwow.

"So I said let’s go to the powwow." Under the spell of the music, Richmond said he had been dancing around the fairgrounds but he hadn’t gone into the circle with the other dancers yet.

"Maybe I’ll dance the friendship dance," he said, a dance he learned at a powwow in South Dakota.

The powwow will continue today with a music performance in the morning.


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