At a Native American pow-wow in Wisconsin – once oppressed people finding their place in modern US
- The Ho-Chunk tribe’s ritual gathering is a deeply spiritual event in the heart of ‘America’s Dairyland’ – and definitely not for the benefit of tourists
How should you respond when a striking Native American woman asks you to attend her pow-wow?
Leah Ann Walker invited me to the ritual gathering of her tribe, the Ho-Chunk, during the Venice Biennale of Art, where avant-garde Native American artists present an alternative pavilion to the official United States one. Her offer of what sounded like a genuine adventure was one I could not refuse.
Six months later, and I am driving out of Chicago towards Black River Falls, in the wilds of Wisconsin, not quite knowing what to expect from the three-day gathering. Non-stop traditional dance and music, as well as splendid ceremonial robes, are a given, but perhaps it’ll also be a spiritual experience or an opportunity to blow away movie-inspired preconceptions and observe the reality of a people who have been oppressed for centuries but are finally finding a place for themselves in modern America, where public statues of brave colonial settlers conquering merciless savages still stand.
Apart from advising me to respectfully call my Ho-Chunk hosts Native Americans – “never, ever, call anyone a Red Indian” – Walker has given me list of dos and don’ts: tribe members in the pow-wow will be dressed in traditional “regalia”, not “costumes”; don’t touch anyone or even think of asking them to pose for a selfie; don’t ask about Thanksgiving as, “we don’t actually celebrate that”; and no mention of a certain Christopher Columbus – “where, exactly, is he meant to have discovered?”
And crushing my Hollywood-inspired illusions, there will be no peace pipe to puff on nor any mind-bending peyote: the three-day event is a detox, with all booze and drugs strictly prohibited.
