Far from a relic, the powwow endures as a vibrant celebration of song, dance and community among the plains nations, drawing dancers and drums from across the continent.
The powwow is no museum piece but a living, thriving tradition, and across the plains the great summer gatherings draw dancers, singers and families by the thousands. At the center sits the drum — a group of singers around a single large drum whose songs carry the dancing — and around it the arena fills with the color and motion of the dance.
The Drum at the Center
The regalia is dazzling and deeply meaningful, each style of dance with its own history, music and movement, from the fast, athletic fancy dance to the stately traditional. Grand entries, honor songs and giveaways mark the powwow's rhythms, and beneath the spectacle lies a serious work of community, memory and pride.
From the almanac's reckoning:
- The drum and its singers are the heart of every powwow.
- Each dance style carries its own history, music and regalia.
- Powwows are living traditions actively handed to new generations.
For the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, Lakota, Dakota and other nations of the region, the powwow is a place where culture is not merely remembered but actively made and handed on. The almanac counts the powwow among the most vital of the plains' living traditions.
Elsewhere in the Almanac
Statehood at Last: North Dakota Joins the Union in 1889
After decades as a territory, the northern half of Dakota entered the Union as a state in 1889, its admission so entwined with its southern twin that the order was deliberately obscured.
The Métis and the Red River Carts of Pembina
At Pembina in the north, the Métis people forged a distinct culture of the buffalo hunt and the trade trail, their squealing wooden carts once a familiar sight across the plains.
Ghost Towns: The Prairie Reclaims Its Own
Across the plains stand the remnants of towns that time and the timetable passed by — a leaning elevator, an empty church, a main street returning quietly to grass.