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MayChe

I love Florida. It's my home but every year it just keeps getting weirder. Has anyone been told that they must enter and leave from the East Gate and that we should be backing out of the arena when we exit? I know this is just a case of monkey see, monkey do but I wanna know that we aren't the only ones who've seen this or have been told this.

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Emmy

ive seen people around here doin thast but just at tradish powwows in va, pa, etc.

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KoolNDN

The more I hear about eastern powwows, the more I am glad I don't attend them. Yes - they sound weird to the max

Kiwehnzii

When you back out, do you do it Michael Jackson style and does your dress have a back up beeper on it to warn incoming that you are exiting? Ayyyee.

middle of the sky

ok i heard about backing out from the sweatlodge door cuz its east anywayz..but not backing out in a powwow arbour...and you come in for grand entry from the east but not every time you leave...well to retire the colours..sounds like someone thinks theyre an instant elder/medicineman and theyre making up the rules as they go along..

MayChe

So it's spreading up the coast? geez...

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MayChe

Well it's not all of them. For every weird one, there's one that's decent. You just gotta know which ones to go to.

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Don't ever stop dancing

MayChe

LMAO! Moonwalk? Haven't seen that yet.

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Don't ever stop dancing

MayChe

yes there is, several of them. I still respect them becuz they're older than me, but it's not like I'm new to dancing or anything. Maybe it's the elder status bug.

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Don't ever stop dancing

Wojapi4Me

I've seen this at a dance in Indiana so it's definitely spreading among the yahoo crowd. It's laughable really. These people have no definable culture of their own so they try their best to make pow wows a spiritual ceremony.

Also, always remember that just because someone is older than you doesn't know they know more than you and doesn't necessarily make them your elder.

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I think everyone on this rez is addicted to Harry Potter...lol...

Str8Dancer49

word.....

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Josiah

That was something that I saw when I lived in Georgia for a short time and when I would travel to Powwows in South and North Carolina I saw variations of the same thing...
Some were really big on the enter from the east thing, not just Grand Entry but everbody all powwow long!
They would have a rope and Haybales around the arena and the only opening was to the east.
But here in Oklahoma I have not seen any such thing, you enter from where your sitting to dance.
And I go to alot of Powwows here in Okla we have several a Weekend almost year round somewhere in the State.
No mystical stuff, backing out of the arena or only dancing or walking Clockwise around the arena.

I wonder what they would think if they came to Osage Country?
They dance Counter Clockwise by the way!!!
Probably Freak!!!
Stop the Powwow your not doing it Right!
LOL

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standstill

BIG WORD to this! Being old is sometimes just that....OLD...not wise.

What happens if you don't back out?

Wojapi4Me

There was a veteran's group in the southeast awhile ago made up of Indians, but they weren't pow wow people and really didn't know anything. They started doing this thing in grand entry where they post a guy in the back to be the "rear guard" and he'd dance backwards and "watch" the people to make sure we weren't being attacked by settlers or anything like that. I'll bet the farm this is where that practice got started of having to back out of the arena. These yahoos in the south saw some actual Indians doing it and...poof...it's gospel.

I wonder how many of those people who make grand entry such a big deal know that it originated with rodeos? LOL

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I think everyone on this rez is addicted to Harry Potter...lol...

NDNKIDZ

im thinking none.. crazyyyy stuff down there..

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standstill

Thanks for the chuckle.....but sadly, you're right! I'll let you know when it hits here in the southwest.
"..attacked by settlers...'' Whew!

Cheshire Cat

Unfortunatly I just saw some of this at a dance in Jax., Fla. The ring leader for this was a guy who is in AIM and from a Cheorkee/Creek group in the panhandle of the state. You should see what they are doing to the round dance. They try to get all the men to do this snaking skipping dance instead of the traditional way we have seen round dance with the circles of women and men. They ostrasize the men who will not join them in this manner of dancing.

Then there is this backing out at the east enterance. I asked the arena director why they let it go on..but there is no direction to any dance here because they want the public to see the show and the person putting on the event has no guts to do anything including paying people. So...no one wants to upset anyone.

standstill

Now why can't this be on the web-cam? I hang my head in shame for the Creek.

MayChe

yeah, you're right. Kinda hard to do that when you have a rep to uphold though.

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Don't ever stop dancing

MayChe

Pretty much no one wants to step on anyones toes. And the rationale I've heard is that "everyone's traditions aren't the same" or "no one knows every tribe's tradition".

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Don't ever stop dancing