The Kickingwoman family, from the Blackfeet reservation in northern Montana, spent the months leading up to the powwow season preparing for a summer on the road, attending a different powwow every weekend.
“We don’t work in the summer: this is what we do, this is how we make money,” said George Kickingwoman, a Blackfeet vocalist in the drum group Black Lodge. Kickingwoman’s kids join in the dances while their dad sings. In addition to the dance competitions, powwows organize singing competitions for drum groups. All categories have prizes that often include cash, blankets, and beadwork.
A young chicken dancer, Thomas Addison, 14, explained that when he dances, the world disappears. For him, it’s about more than just winning the games (although he likes to win). “It’s about dancing for the people who can’t,” he said.
For Rachel Arlee Bowers, 80, an elderly person whose family the city is named after, seeing the arena filled with dancers was healing. “To dance is to pray,” said Mrs. Arlee Bowers. “We pray and dance for the people who can’t be there. Those who are sick and those who want to dance but can’t. People like me.”
Ms. Arlee Bowers, sitting in a wheelchair in her traditional buckskin dress with her little chihuahua, Tiny, on her lap, recalled that Native Americans were not allowed to practice their religion and were persecuted for performing tribal ceremonies. It was not until 1978 when Congress passed the American Indian Religious Freedom Act that Native Americans were allowed to exercise their right to traditional ceremonies and celebrations.
Given that legacy, passing regalia down through the generations means a lot more to Ansen Eagletail, a 14-year-old chicken dancer who wore a headgear called a cockroach that once belonged to his grandfather. It is one of the oldest pieces in his family and its history has made it Ansen’s favorite. His family, from the Tsuutʼina Nation of Alberta, Canada, spend their summers on the powwow trail. The Arlee powwow was the fourth of 13 powwows the family planned to attend this summer. Mr. Eagletail’s father is an MC, and he and his older brother both dance competitively.
