Thursday, August 27, 2009

Christian Pow-Wow

Jillian, Jonathan, Daniel and I had the privilege of attending a Christian PowWow a few Saturdays ago. Richard Twiss (pictured here in red and yellow dancing with one of his sons) has this annual event, helping Native Americans practice a Christian Faith that does not demonize their culture. Randy and Edith Woodley helped us understand what was going on, explaining the dances, drums, and traditions.

Some of the dances were for everyone to join in, so we eventually did, and you can see Jonathan and Daniel, holding hands and getting into it. A few days after the event, Jillian and I heard pounding up in their bedroom, and I peaked into their room to find them doing a circle dance, complete with bells attached around their ankles. Even now, a few weeks later, Daniel or Jonathan will be walking along, and then will spontaneously break into a traditional dance step. We love it!

They were especially mezmorized by Randy and Edith's son, Young, who performed the 'Grass Dance'. Here they are with Young.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your circle dance comments make me think about dancing in the church. It can be another form of worship as clearly demonstrated by the folks at that pow-wow (and what I saw of them in chapel). Maybe we need to get folks dancing at Newberg Friends!

CW Beals said...

In Rwandan Friends churches, they dance and they really dance. It's so obviously worshipful, that you just can't deny it. Dance on!