There was a pow wow at the Agency gym on the weekend of October 1st and 2nd. I drove up to the Agency with Ray, Irma and Lyle. It was called the Chief Joseph Veteran Memorial Pow Wow. It was scheduled to start at 7:00 pm on Friday night, but at 7:00 there were not even 25 people there; not even the singers. It finally began at about 8:15 pm.
Why would the tribes on Ft. Belknap have a pow wow to honor the Nez Perce Tribe, and their Chief Joseph. The army was chasing the Nez Perce to force them onto a reservation. Chief Joseph led them on a journey between the US and Canada to escape. The army finally caught them just south of the present town of Chinook, about 70 miles from Hays. A battle took place and Chief Joseph finally surrendered. This battlefield is in Ft. Belknap’s backyard. The Nez Perce are invited, and they come from their reservation in Idaho. They are honored by the Ft. Belknap tribes at this pow wow.
The Nez Perce, including their tribal chairman, are seated to the right of the Hays Singers.
The Hays Singers and the Nez Perce Delegation
The pow wow is also held to honor the veterans from Ft. Belknap who have served in the armed forces during WW I, WWII, and the Korean and Vietnam Wars. A relatively large number of people from the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Tribes and the Chippewa- Cree have served in the military. I’ve noted previously the irony surrounding the patriotism and the service practiced by these people – patriotism toward a country that has treated them so ruthlessly, and service in a military that took part in killing off the buffalo and forcing these tribes onto the reservation.
People were asked to bring their own folding chairs although bleachers were also set up for visitors. Earthboy took a leadership role at the pow wow and Gerald Stiffarm was the announcer. Gerald serves as an announcer at most of the pow wows and ceremonies on the reservation. A pipe ceremony initiated the pow wow. It was called a four-pipe ceremony because there will be four pipe ceremonies within the two days of the pow wow. The pipe ceremony was led by a man from the Rocky Boy Reservation. For this initial pipe ceremony, six men sat on wrestling mats in a circle. They unwrapped the pipe from a cloth sack and filled the pipe with Kinnikinnick. This plant is a low growing shrub from the northwest that the tribes use for pipe ceremonies. The first man lit the pipe, he prayed and smoked it and then passed it to the left. He handed it stem first with the left hand, and it went around the circle about 3 ½ times (or until the pipe went out). Then the pipe ceremony was over, and the men returned to their places. As the men pray with the pipe, their prayers rise with the smoke.
All the singers took their places. The Hays Singers were the host drum; they sat to the side of the room and used a microphone and PA system. The other two drums (both from Rocky Boy) were located in the center of the room and did not use a microphone. The Hays Singers opened with the flag song. It was explained to me that the flag song is like the Indian national anthem. Everyone stood up and removed their hats. The Hays Singers at this pow wow were Gordon, Edith, Ray, Lyle, Caroline, Matt, and Bobby.
These next photographs are the Hays Singers, seated around their drum. You can see people standing behind them tape recording their music.
Matt, Edith, Susie, and Gordon
Caroline
Lyle
Bobby
Ray
The Hays Singers sang the first song. Only the young Earthboy danced. He has won many awards for his dancing. The next dance two girls joined in. It seemed to take a while to get going; not too many people were dancing at the beginning of the pow wow.
The grass dance is done clockwise with the dancers stepping with each beat of the drum. This dance originated with the tribes of the northern plains and is now found among tribes across native north America. The grass dance songs do not have names and there are no words. There are many grass dance songs with new songs being composed all the time.
Each drum took turns singing their songs. The drums were numbered, 1, 2, and 3 . The Hays Singers were the host drum and were number one. This was called an intertribal, and everyone, regardless of where they come from, were invited to participate in the dancing. The entire pow wow was intertribal unless a special song was being played, for instance, like an honor song. It was about 10:00 before most of the people were dancing. The largest number of dancers on the floor at one time was about 40 people of all ages and they were mostly women.
About 400 people were sitting in the stands. The people danced around the two drums that were in the middle of the gym floor.
One of the men from Rocky Boy had an honor song for his sister who had died about a year before. The honor songs had their origins in what were called Braveheart songs. They were sad songs that were sung as warriors went off to battle. These songs have become a means of honoring the memory of a deceased relative. Honor songs have a much slower rhythm than grass dance songs.
The third drum sang the honor song. The man from Rocky Boy initiated the dance. He and his sister’s relatives followed behind in a single file line around the circle. He was carrying a picture of his sister. As the song progressed, more people joined in. Irma turned to Ray toward the end of the song and said, ‘let’s dance.’ They joined the end of the line.
At the end of the song there was a give-away held by the man from Rocky Boy and his family in honor of his sister. He and his family stood in a line next to a table covered with shawls and blankets. He whispered the name of a person to Gerald who called them up. It was primarily friends and relatives from Rocky Boy and Ft. Belknap. People were called up one at a time or as husbands and wives. They were handed a gift and then they walked down the line shaking hands with everyone in the family. If a man was wearing a hat, he took it off. People who had come from out of town and from different reservations were given gifts and recognized. This included the Nez Perce tribal chairman and his family who were seated in front, as well as people who had come from Canada, Ft. Peck, North and South Dakota, Cheyenne and Crow. People applauded when someone was being recognized or after the first few dances and the drummers pounded their drums.
After all the shawls and blankets were given away, several cash gifts were also given. The man gave Gerald $20 for doing the announcing.
Everyone who danced wore moccasins except during an honor song when other people came onto the floor. Some people were in very traditional Indian costumes. Irma told me that the tribes have borrowed so much from each other that their outfits are almost the same now. I would characterize it as pan-Plains Indian.
When the giveaway was over, people were saying how good it was that they were honoring her in this way. At the end, the gentleman from Rocky Boy said to everyone that his family did the best they could, and it was the most they could afford. He wanted to wish everyone good health and a safe drive home.
The intertribal started again and everyone began to dance. They also started serving food. They walked around the room, serving out-of-town guests first. First, they passed out Styrofoam cups. They then came around with beef broth, crackers, hunks of meat, cookies and ham sandwiches.
The Feed
People danced until around 12:30. An old man and a woman sang the flag song to end the first night. They were from the Northern Cheyenne reservation. Their song had words. Everyone stood and removed their hats. Then people left.
On the second day of the pow wow, everyone rode in a caravan to Chief Joseph’s battlefield. Then they came back and had a feast.
When someone comes around with a whistle and blows it, it means they are asking to have the song sung again, four more times. A man from Rocky Boy who was wearing a buffalo headdress and had his face painted, blew his whistle when the Hays Singers were singing.
On the second night there was a giveaway for a girl who was to receive a quillwork blouse that was 103 years old. There was another giveaway in honor of a person who had passed away a year before. Finally, a giveaway was held for a young girl who was dancing at a pow wow for the first time.
At the feed on the second night, people were given a plate of food at one time instead of the servers coming around many different times. The plate of food was filled with baked beans, beef chunks, potato salad, cookies and tea. Apples were passed out first.
There was a roll call at the pow wow of all veterans of all the wars. The people from the Hays area on Ft. Belknap were called first. When they called a person’s name, the Hays drummers pounded four beats on the drum – slow – fast – fast – slow. Names were read for all the veterans who attended, including from Rocky Boy, the Northern Cheyenne and from Canada.
There were six drums present on the second night and more than 750 people at the pow wow.
Gordon and Edith's daughter, Venetia
Lily Fox
The women standing behind the drum are singing. My favorite songs are those that have the women singing along with the men.
For each honor song, a gift or money is usually given to the drum who sang their song. Ray paid to sing the second to last song. It was his deceased brother’s honor song. Irma danced. The last song was the closing song where they took down the flags. Two men lowered the Ft. Belknap and the American flags.
At the pow wow, Ray told me that George Snell was going to be honored at the pow wow. George was a respected elder in the community. Bob Mount is going to be honored at the pow wow for the dedication of the mission gym. He is the oldest member of the Gros Ventre.
Bob and Estelle Mount
Ray and Irma Gone
Susie and Lyle
Ray Gone
When I was at school the following week, Beatrice and I were talking about the Chief Joseph memorial pow wow. She asked me about the pipe ceremony, and she wanted me to describe what the pipe looked like that was used in the ceremony. I described it to her. She told me that this was not the real sacred pipe of the Gros Ventre. She also told me that the man who did the pipe ceremony did not really have the right to perform this ceremony. It was not passed down to him with all the instructions. I heard the very same thing from Ray at the pow wow. Beatrice was my reality check on all things A’aniiih. She was a fluent, native speaker of the language, and there were few people who knew the traditions better than Beatrice. Often if I heard a story or observed some kind of ceremony, I would describe it to her, and she would authenticate what I heard or observed, or she would let me know that the story or observation was off the mark.
During the pipe ceremony, Irma told me the following joke.
There were two Indians and a white man at a pipe ceremony and the white man was sitting in between the two Indians. The first Indian lit the pipe and smoked it and passed it to the white man who was sitting next to him. The white man took out his handkerchief and wiped it off before he smoked it. Then he handed it to the other Indian. The second Indian was so perturbed at the white man that he took out his knife and cut the tip off the pipe.
Irma really laughed when she completed the joke. It has been almost 50 years, and I can still hear her laugh!
Dory came up to my trailer at about 7:00 in the evening. He told me that I was invited to listen and tape his parent’s practice. Gordon, Edith, Caroline and Bobby were taping this session so that they could listen to the tape during the pow wow next weekend (the gym dedication) to help them remember the songs. At the pow wows, there are at least four or five people standing around the good drums / singers taping the music. The Hays Singers are well known and are considered an exceptional drum. More people dance when they like the drummers and singers that are playing. This group plays slower than many other singers. The older people like to dance while they play because it is easier on them. They try to play enough different kinds of songs so that all the different age groups can dance. Young people like it fast and older people like it slow. Only Bobby and Gordon were using drums during the practice. They were small drums (about 12” in diameter) and were held in the hand. The drums were played with smaller sticks than used at a pow wow when they play the bass drum. Before Susie and I left the reservation, Gordon made me a hand drum as a gift. Gordon was a very skilled craftsman. Both files are the recordings I made from the practice session. They include primarily grass dance songs and a few owl dances.
The music on the first file starts after 12 seconds (sorry).
The Hays singers cut a record and signed a contract to get paid $200 for it. It was a company from Oklahoma that made the recording. Gordon said that they believed that they were cheated out of a lot of money from the sale of the record.
Gordon told me about the ringtail songs. A man holds a stick with bells on top of it. He sits in a line with other men and while they sing, he keeps the rhythm by pounding the stick on the ground. A woman stands in front of him and tries to make him laugh by making faces and gestures.
Gordon explained that the handgame used to be for fun, but today it is a ceremony. If someone is sick, you might pray that they get better and you promise that if the person gets well, you will hold a hand game. The hand game song is played until the guessing is completed. There are four men and four women who sit across from each other. The game is played with four bones. A stick with a feather on it is used by the guesser to help decide where the bone is hidden. The direction the feather moves helps the guesser.
Four is a special number among the A’aniiih and among most tribes. Rituals tend to be repeated in fours.
There were usually two composers in every tribe (or band), but Bobby is the only composer on Ft. Belknap.
The Owl dance and songs are ‘love songs.’ A man and woman dance by holding each other. They began using words in these songs at about the turn of the century. The words Gordon, Edith, Caroline and Bobby sang during this practice were in English.
They also sang an honor song that Fred Gone Sr. composed for his three sons who were in the service during WWII (Ray, Pete, and Lee). While they were playing this song, Caroline began to cry and left the room. It is a brave heart song.
At a pow wow, people who dance during an honor song are friends and relatives of the person being honored (usually someone who has died) and anyone else who wants to show their respect. These are brave heart songs which were sung in the past when men went off to war or battle.
You can tell different groups and different tribes by the rhythms they play on the drums and the different types of singing. The Gros Ventre are known for their high voices in singing, and their slower drumming. Assiniboine are known for their loud voices. The Rocky Boys are known for their good drumming.
Any song can be played at any time – during practice and at the pow wow. The sun dance song is the only one recognized by all the tribes as sacred. It can only be practiced three times and then the fourth time it is done in the sun dance lodge.
There used to be two whip men on the dance floor at the pow wows, but they do not have them anymore. If someone is in a dance outfit, they can force them to dance, and if they don’t dance, he can whip them with a raw hide whip. Also, he will keep them moving around the floor. To be a whip man, he would have to give things away (give away). Even the people who blow the whistles at the dances are supposed to give something away, but they don’t do this anymore. A person is only allowed to blow the whistle four times during a song, but any number of people may blow the whistle four times. Gordon said, ‘they can really play you out sometimes.’
At the pow wow, Ray told me that brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law had a joking relationship. There was an avoidance relationship between the mother-in-law and son-in-law and between the father-in-law and the daughter-in-law. All cousins were called brother and sister.
Ray said that he and Bob Mount are bothers- in-law Indian way. Therefore, they have a joking relationship. Ray indicated that he has a lot of respect for Bob as an elder. He is a brother-in-law because he married a cousin, who is a sister-in-law Indian way.
Beatrice said that her father-in-law (Jim’s father) used to hold Indian prayer meetings. He would sometimes say ‘holy’ and then would add Jesus. The people at the meetings would get mad at him for this. They would say, why do you have to add these white words? The prayer meetings were done in Gros Ventre, except for his using the word Jesus. She said that the mission beat their language out of them. She added that now they want the Indians to have their language back, and it is too late to bring it back.
Gordon told me that the dance planned for Saturday night (mission gym dedication) was going to cost about $700. The money was being collected in various ways: $300 from the Gros Ventre treaty committee, there were two bingos, and the dance committee members collected money from people on the reservation by going around to houses and asking for money. They had a beef donated by someone on the reservation and they had to buy another half a beef.
Gordon had an illness in the family and prayed and promised a hand game. He said that he promised this hand game about eight months ago. He is going to invite most of the old people in Hays. He said that they would really enjoy seeing it. He only wanted to invite the people that still keep the traditions. In the past he would have put the hand game on by himself, doing all of the preparations alone, but now he will ask for some type of help from people. He will ask for donations from the community of food or money.
Some of Gordon and Edith’s children have an interest in in the Indian traditions. They dance at the pow wows and they are also interested in the traditional foods. As a result of these interests, the kids have a hard time in school with the other kids. They are teased and given a rough time.
A beef was donated to the dance committee for the pow wow to dedicate the new mission gym. The cow was taken to Ray’s house and placed in the corral. Quentin went out to the corral alone to shoot the cow. He went out alone so as not to get it all stirred up. He took it down with one rifle shot over the left eye.
After it went down, Ray, Lyle and I went outside to help him. We put a chain around the rear legs and hooked the other end of the chain around the axle of the truck. They pulled the cow out to the field. All of this took about ten minutes. Then the other people came to help: Gordon, Edith, Pat and Matt.
They turned the cow around on its back and made slits around the legs above the hoof. They next began to cut up the leg.
Then they began to make the cut from the abdomen to the neck.
They cut the throat to let it bleed out.
They were supposed to let it bleed first so that the heart would help to get the blood out, but they forgot. The men were doing all of the butchering, and the women were watching and joking. I was taking photographs. Everyone was joking and enjoying themselves. Quentin handed me a knife and asked if I wanted to go at it. I responded that if they let me do it, they would have to serve hamburgers by the time I got done with it.
They continued to peel the hide back off the legs and from the chest. Then they put up a tripod made of about 12–15-foot wooden poles. They balanced the poles above the cow. When it was sturdy, they hooked one end of a chain attached to a pulley to the cow’s rear legs and the other end of the chain to the top of the poles (where the three poles met on top). Then they hoisted the cow up off the ground upside down.
They were peeling the hide back and were going pretty slowly considering the number of people that were working on it. Then Ray said that you do it just like you do a deer, and they really picked up speed. They have a lot of experience with deer, and it looked like it. They were doing all the butchering with knives.
After they got the hide off the back, Lyle cut off the head and threw it into a cardboard box. He cut it off with a hack saw. They were going to give the head to an old Chippewa Cree woman who uses everything of a cow for food. Then they started cutting into the layer of fat and the organs began to push out. They cut the membrane behind the organs and lifted them out whole and placed them on a cardboard box that had been cut open and placed on the ground.
They then finished cutting up the meat with their knives and a hacksaw. It was cut into big pieces. It was going to be cut up into smaller pieces on Friday night before the pow wow. The meat was going to be stored in the Hays trading post in the meat freezers. The whole process was completed just as I had to leave. It took about 2 ½ hours.
Lily came to take out the organs that could be used for food. There was a dinner for mostly the old people in the community. They were going to prepare a traditional dinner using the organs. The dance committee will also attend this dinner. I was invited because of my friendship with the dance committee members. I couldn’t go because I was teaching my college class that evening. Lily is one of the few people around who know the parts that are used for the traditional foods. They had to get the whole process done as early as Tuesday because the meat had to ‘cool’ until Saturday. The hide was given back to the man who donated the beef. He had asked for it back.
When I went back to school, Beatrice asked me all about the butchering. When I told her about Lily, she said that a man was supposed to handle the organs like that. That the woman only does the preparation of the food after the men get everything like that ready. The women do the cleaning after the men bring back those organs. Everyone said that they used to eat everything. Many of the younger people (teens and 20s) that I have talked to said that they wouldn’t eat any of this. One of the women there asked me if I would eat it, and I said that I was going to try it someday. She said, boy, you’re more of an Indian than I am; I wouldn’t eat that stuff. The tail is used for soup. The inside of the hoof is cooked with hominy or corn.
Through my relationship with Gordon and Edith, I did have opportunities to eat some of these traditional foods. Gordon would sometimes joke with me and not tell me directly what I was eating until after I was done eating it. Torturing and teasing the anthropologist is a thing.
The elderly are always recognized at the pow wows. After out-of-town guests are given something at the give aways, all of the ‘old timers’ are given something.
Gordon told me that the dance committee was short money to put on its dedication pow wow. They will go around the community to ask for donations of either food or money. They haven’t yet received the money from the Gros Ventre treaty committee. The mission is going to lend them this money and will get paid back when the treaty committee finally pays. The dance committee will pay each drum $50, and they are expecting eight drums.
They are also raising funds by selling chances for a painting that was donated by a local artist, Frank Cuts the Rope. The painting was supposed to be raffled off at the last bingo by the dance committee, but they didn’t yet have the painting. They did make over $200 by selling chances to win the painting.
The dedication of the new gym was on Saturday, October 23rd. The preparations took months. All the shopping had been done and all the gifts were put in the back room for the giveaway. The only thing that had to be done was to cover the gym floor and cook the food. There were four women in the kitchen boiling and cutting the meat and then placing it into cardboard boxes. They were also making soup from the water that had been used to boil meat. They added cans of veg-all, onions and macaroni to the boiling water. Everything else was served cold and would be opened and prepared during the powwow. A broth was made to serve the singers.
The powwow began at 7:30pm as both fathers performed the regular Saturday night mass in the gym. Usually only one of them says mass. There were about 150 people there at this time. They had a table covered with an Indian blanket opposite the stands. People were sitting in the stands and around the gym floor. They said the regular mass. The only difference was that they walked around the gym during the service. Father Simoneau walked around the whole gym sprinkling holy water on the walls. If it hit anyone, they would cross themselves.
The festivities began at around 8:30pm. There were between 400 and 500 people there. It would have been a larger crowd, but it had snowed the night before and people from other reservations were discouraged from making the long trip in the snow.
There were three drums from other reservations, and there were the Hays singers. Chairs were set up for the drums in the middle of the floor. There were a few intertribal dances. Father Retzel and Gordon were the announcers until Gerald came to do the announcing. He came about an hour and a half late.
The people on the dance committee were still collecting money for chances to win Frank’s painting. The chances were sold for a dollar for three tries. This money was used to pay the drums. The picture raffle brought in about $400. Father presented three plaques during the powwow. Mike made them. They had a cross on wood and a little typed note saying that the community and the mission appreciated their help in getting the gym constructed. They went to John Capture, the chairman of the Gros Ventre treaty committee which donated $75,000; to the chairman of the Assiniboine treaty committee which donated $15,000; and to the Kresge Company which donated $75,000.
The Hays singers did an honor song. Then the dance committee gave away three blankets to show their appreciation for the help that was given in getting the new gym built. One went Frank, who is the Hays representative to the tribal Council. A blanket was given to Sister Giswalda who made the arrangements with the Kresge Company. A blanket was also given to Father Simoneau. He had already left the powwow and went back to the rectory. I went up and got the blanket for him and took it to him in the rectory. Father Simoneau does not like to be in the limelight and avoids most public gatherings.
The dance committee danced during another honor song and then they had a giveaway. Gordon danced in front because he was in charge of the dance committee. There are gifts given away for a number of reasons. First, people who come from out of town get something from the dance committee. Jan LaValley was given a blanket for coming all the way from Joplin. She was rolled up by someone in her wheelchair. After out-of-town guests, the old people of the community are always recognized and given something at the giveaway. Then something is given to people who help with the dance committee or do something “beyond the call of duty” to help them prepare. Blankets, shawls and money are usually given away. Gordon called me up to get a blanket for helping with the powwow. When you receive something at a giveaway, you walk up to the announcer’s table and take the gift from the chairman of the committee (Gordon). Then you shake his hand and go down the line of people on the committee shaking each person’s hand and saying thank you. There were about ten people on the committee, including Father Retzel who was also standing in the line.
The cooks working in the kitchen were Beatrice, Monica Werk, Lily Fox, and Edith. Their husbands stayed very close to them during the day, helping them lift anything that was too heavy. Mostly the men were just joking around in the kitchen and drinking coffee. The cooks spent most of the powwow in the kitchen. The feed took place around midnight, and they served soup, coffee, baked beans (cold), boiled beef, bread, apples, oranges, Danish, cookies, and cigarettes. The coffee and soup are carried around in big tubs and ladled out as they go around the gym. The cups and spoons are passed out ahead of time, and everything else is put on a plate in the kitchen and passed out on plates to everyone. People bring plastic bags to put away food that cannot be eaten. Most of the food is given away
After the powwow was over Gordon, Edith and I were sitting in the kitchen. Everyone else left. It was 2 o’clock. Gordon said that it was now time to start all over again, raising money and preparing for the Christmas festivities.
The out-of-towners at the powwow make arrangements with someone in the community to spend the night. Ray and Irma took in a family from Browning.
There were about 25 dancers at the powwow. Two of the girls from my 7/8 grade class wore costumes and danced. I was very pleasantly surprised. Father Retzel also danced. Beatrice told me that they were at a powwow before, and father danced. He was not good. So, she made him sit down and watch how others danced before he got up again. She told me if I wanted to learn how to dance, I should watch Father and that was the way not to dance. Beatrice was very funny. I loved watching her laugh!
There was an exhibition dance at the powwow. Three boys were called up to dance. They danced to the singing and drumming of the Hays singers. It was like a grass dance song played very fast without the slower beginning. The dancers in the exhibition each got paid $20 from the dance committee.
Jim Stiffarm sat at the drum and tried to do some singing. He is getting old, but he really likes to sit at the drum. Bobby and Gordon both danced. Neither of them dances very often. In fact, this might have been the only time I saw them dance over the two years I was on the reservation.
All the sisters were there except for Sister Claire. There is so much smoking at the powwow’s that the room fills up in a couple of hours. She has heart trouble and needs to avoid the smoke.
Most of the teenage and grade school kids stood out in the hall talking and messing around. They did not get very involved in the powwow, and never got near the dance floor.
Bobby said that while he is at work, he sings all day. He makes new songs while he is working. Sometimes he goes home and tries to get them down on tape. Today he said that he made a really good song, but when he got home, he lost it. We joked that he should buy a small tape recorder and take it to work with him and leave it in his pocket to tape everything that he sings while he is working. Gordon said that he is the only one on the reservation that composes songs. They kept saying that he “makes” songs. Gordon also said that this music cannot be written down – there is no way to transcribe the music into notes.
At the end of the month, Gordon and Edith took me to a Halloween pow wow on the Ft. Peck Reservation. I didn’t bring my camera, because I didn’t know anyone on Ft. Peck and was concerned that it might not be appropriate for me to be taking photographs. I regret that I didn’t have my camera every time I think about this pow wow.
Gordon and Edith picked me up and we left Hays at 2:30 in the afternoon. When we got to the agency we stopped to talk to Bobby. They made arrangements to go to the pow wow. Gordon said that the Assiniboine and Sioux live on Ft. Peck. It is about a four-hour drive from Fort Belknap on Route 2. We stopped at the bank in Harlem. Gordon also bought tires for his car. It was 4:30 when we left Harlem. We stopped at a town on Route 2 and had dinner at a truck stop. Bobby caught up with us and followed us to Oswego. We got to the hall in Oswego at 8:45pm. The place was packed, and we stood in the hall for a while.
Most of the people were sitting in the stands, but there were about 25 people dressed in Halloween costumes, and they were doing the owl dance. The people were dressed up like old people; one was dressed like a plumber, another like the devil, one was called the love bug and had a paper-mâché mask and had wings like an insect. Half of the people that were dressed up were children and the other half were adults. The Halloween costumes replaced the traditional Indian costumes. They did many owl dances during the night. A man and a woman hold each other like a regular box step. The man is on the left and the woman on the right. They go around the drum in a clockwise fashion until someone calls out and they change directions. They step with the foreword foot and drag the rear foot with the beat of the drum. It was very peculiar to see people dressed in these Halloween costumes doing these traditional Indian dances.
When we went into the hall, Gordon, Edith, Edith’s brother and Bobby sat at one of the drums. There were two other drums. They asked me to tape their singing and asked me to tape the other drums. For each song I had to get up from my chair and move to the other drums.
Gordon said that the people from Ft. Peck make good money. They have oil and they have a good tribal Council that makes good investments for the people. They also make money leasing out land. Each person on the reservation gets a per capita payment each year from these earnings.
The people here did the owl dance pretty often; more often than I had observed on Fort Belknap. There were also far more kids involved in the powwow than there are on Fort Belknap. There were teenagers dancing. There was even a teenage girl sitting at one of the drums. At Fort Belknap most of the teenagers are standing in the hallway and do not even spend much time at the powwow. The Hays Singers sang a flag song, and many people left after that. Then they did a grass dance that Bobby had made. The people from the other drums got up and danced and many of the people who were left in the stands got up and danced. The people really enjoyed the song, and they played it for a long time. At the end, people began to walk up to the announcer giving him money for the song. People said things like: you made me feel so young again, you made me feel like an Indian and I had to get up and dance, it was so good that my son got up and danced, I am from Fort Belknap, and you made me homesick, and it makes me feel good that my people have come here. There were seven or eight people and each time the announcer made a separate speech for the person, and the money was passed from the announcer to Bobby who took the money and then walked over to the person who gave it to the drum, and he shook his hand and thanked him for it. The donations were from $5-$20, and they made $80 on that one song. This money would be split between all the singers at the drum.
There were two different auctions during the Halloween dance. In the first, they auctioned off baskets. The people didn’t know what they were bidding on. The baskets contained a chicken dinner or some collection of berries, soup, and jams. It seemed as though the people were basing their bid on the size of the box. The lowest went for $10 and the highest for $27. They later auctioned off Indian crafts: a painting, star quilt, shawls, beaded necklaces, and earrings. Many people left the hall during these auctions. They took a long time and people seemed to get bored with them. The expression Jew down was used a good number of times during these auctions, both by bidders and the auctioneer.
During the powwow, there was a delegation of Republican candidates on the local level, that gave short speeches for themselves and for the national Republican ticket. Then an Indian from the Blackfeet tribe came in to endorse the Republican ticket. He said that he had been all over the country supporting the Republicans in this election year.
There was a costume contest. The people dressed in Halloween costumes lined up on the floor. The winner was given $40 and then all the adults were given money who were in Halloween costumes. Each of the kids that were dressed up were given a dollar. Each of the drums was paid $25.
The feed took place at about 11:30. They served boiled beef, pie and cake, carrot salad, tossed salad, coffee, bread, and oranges. It was served on a plate. The singers were given coffee all night.
While we were at dinner at the truck stop, Gordon went out to fill up the car with gas and to pay the food bill. I then offered Edith money to help with the dinner and gas. She refused to take it. So much for the rules about generosity. On the way home, I offered it to Gordon while we were at a gas station, and he took it. We got home at 4:30 in the morning. Most of the way home we played the tape recorder and when a good song came on, we all sang with it (I tried).
Gordon said that he really wanted to take Susie and I to the powwow’s this summer. They go all over – Crow, Browning, Fort Peck, Rocky Boy…. He said that he wanted Susie to start dancing, and he wanted me to learn how to sing so that I could sit with the drum and sing with them at the pow wows. I told Gordon that I thought the singing was way above my range.
Halloween was celebrated in Hays on Sunday night (October 31st) at about 6 o’clock. It was just getting dark. People took their kids around to the different houses in Hays, starting at one side of town and ending up at our trailer which is on the farthest (southern) part of the Hays community. One of the parents drove a pickup and the kids were piled into the back of the truck with the gate down. When they got up to the house, the kids would jump out and run up to the house. The trucks formed a caravan through the town. Most of the kids wore masks that were bought in a store. They had been wearing masks around town during the week. There had been a party at the public school and the kids came onto the bus in the morning wearing their masks. All the kids that were out trick-or-treating were wearing costumes. When they came up to get the candy, popcorn, cookies, apples, oranges they just put out their bags and didn’t really say anything.
The mission was giving candy from the rectory, the convent, and the green trailer, so the kids ran from building to building when they got into the mission. The sisters and volunteers in the green trailer had decorated it with fluorescent paint and had a black light – it was dark, and they had a record on of scary noises. One of the volunteers painted a glove and hid behind furniture, scaring kids when they were asked to come in. Most of the younger kids were really scared and would not go in – those that remembered it from last year would not go near it. Some of the kids had to be pushed to even get near to the green trailer.
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