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No Comments [ Add Comment ]Drumming up some kids / Clearfield powwow focuses on letting the children dance
By Jesse FruhwirthCLEARFIELD -- The booming beats of the drum circle reverberated throughout the school -- out the back door where Navajo tacos were served, through the hallways where Native American crafts and jewelry could be purchased, and past the kid-friendly craft table.
The Hill Air Force Base American Indian/Alaska Native Association planned the powwow. The past three years, said organizer Dennis Gough, the powwow was held on base and honored veterans of U.S. military service.
This year the committee was excited to focus on children and so moved the event to Hill Field Elementary School, 389 S. 1000 East.
"We tried to get as many little kids as we could to come out and dance," Gough said.
Entrance fees benefited the Hill Airman's Attic and the Indian Walk-In Center in Salt Lake City.
Organizer Charmaine Bylillie said focusing on the young could breed cultural awareness for a generation.
"All these kids as they grow up are going to remember this their whole lives," she said.
Bylillie said by their very nature, powwows are international events that welcome outsiders of all backgrounds and she hoped the children would learn that by attending.
Gough said that, of the roughly 17,000 active duty and civilian workers at Hill, about 103 are American Indian or Alaska Native.
All have their own stories. Gough came to Hill from Alaska in the 1970s as a recruit and retired in the '80s, but has stayed at Hill since then as a civilian. Bylillie grew up in the Navajo Nation in the Four Corners area and came to Hill more recently as a civilian.
Jaynie Hirschi is the base's resident archaeologist. She works as a liaison between the base and 17 tribes that have been identified as having ancestral ties to the land used by the base and the Utah Test and Training Range.
She said the powwow has a very fundamental cross-cultural purpose.
"Some people don't even recognize that Native Americans are still around," Hirschi said, "as if they're no longer in existence."
Powwows nationwide are the most visible reminder of America's native human population.
"Wherever you go, there will always be a powwow," Bylillie said. "Tribal culture is alive and well, and the tribes are so proud of it. It's a part of everyone's history."
Stephanie Brown is originally from South Dakota but moved on base with her husband, who is enlisted. She said she attended many powwows in her home state, but this was the first for her three children.
"It's amazing," she said. "(The kids) liked the foot steps, the different moves."
Shy 5-year-old Mackenzie Brown said she wanted to dance with her friend who had built up the courage to enter the dance circle, but had thus far just watched the twirling shawls and bouncing jingles of the dancers' costumes from afar.
Three-year reservist Sharonda Murray brought to the powwow her three youngsters who attend Hill Field Elementary.
"I've never been to a powwow," she said. "It's different. I really like it."
Her children, she said, "are gettin' into it."
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