Tribal traditions move forward

Some of the dancers at the Yap-Keehn-Um powwow Saturday in Coeur d’Alene could have stepped out of the 19th century. Their heads were topped with eagle feathers, and their buckskin clothes were adorned with elk teeth and the subdued colors from natural dyes.

Many others, though, were explosively bright. Their regalia included splashes of neon, bright sequins and even pop culture references, like Tweety Bird. Six-year-old Joseph Bohlman, a member of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe now living in Post Falls, wore grass dancing regalia with a “Star Wars” theme.

“He likes the movie,” said his aunt Felicia Haynes, who made the outfit.

Native Americans have ancient ties to these parts, but that doesn’t mean they’re stuck in the past, said Moses Spear Chief, a traditional dancer from Alberta who now lives in Spokane.

“Culture’s gotta change,” he said.

The powwow at North Idaho College included 13 drum groups and at least 150 dancers from tribes across the West and western Canada. The styles of regalia and dancing are as different as the tribes, Spear Chief said. He’s a member of the Blood Tribe, which is part of the greater Blackfeet Nation. The Blackfeet-Bloods once had a reputation as fierce fighters. “And we were better-looking than the others,” Spear Chief said, laughing.

Nowadays, the ancient rivalries are still remembered and joked about, Spear Chief said, but powwows are all about having fun and taking pride in native culture.

“We’re here to celebrate and preserve our language and culture,” said Spear Chief, who is fluent in his tribe’s language. “Once that goes, we’ll be gone.”

The powwow is called Yap-Keehn-Um after a Coeur d’Alene term meaning “the gathering place.” It’s held at North Idaho College, which is located on land once used by the Coeur d’Alene Tribe as a place to live and as a meeting ground, said Darrell Tso, American Indian student adviser at the college. The families were forced off the land to make way for Fort Sherman.

The powwow is also about continuing to use the land as a gathering place, Tso said. “We try to honor those families who were pushed off and let them know they’re not forgotten.”

Although most of the participants were dancers, members of tribal drum groups and their families, nonnatives also attended and watched the festivities. Tso, a member of the Navajo Tribe, wishes more people would attend so they would better understand the rich native cultures that continue to exist in the Inland Northwest.

Most residents of Coeur d’Alene don’t seem to remember that their town was once Indian ground, or that the town’s namesake tribe still exists, Tso said. “They just know the casino, but the tribe is more than the casino.”