Annual powwow in Indiana Township sparks cultural exchange

It took Miguel Sague Jr. and Silantoi Nkoyo only a few minutes of chatting in a mucky field at a powwow Sunday afternoon to start trading gifts.

Sague, a retired art teacher and member of the United Confederation of Taino People, offered a print of one of his drawings.

In return, Nyoko, a Kenyan member of the Maasai people, handed him a beaded bracelet carrying rich cultural significance.

"Hahom," Sague said, using the Taino word for "thank you."

For the 45th consecutive year, descendants of various indigenous tribes converged for a weekend on the Council of Three Rivers American Indian Center in Indiana Township to not just express their cultures, but exchange pieces of them with others.

"I think it's very good when we experience diverse cultures," said Nkoyo, who is nearly finished with a four-month stay in the area through a University of Pittsburgh-assisted initiative. "It also gives you knowledge of life in a different perspective."

Cultural cross-pollination happened all over the 23-acre site in the township's Dorseyville section.

Nearly 30 vendors, like Caribbean Blue co-owner Lisa Alexander, sold Native American arts, crafts and foods. The West Deer resident makes beaded earrings and t-shirts, including one poking fun at famous explorer Christopher Columbus.

"It's just a really cool and welcoming environment," she said. "It's a cultural exchange for people who are non-Native and the Native participants who are here."

Around 50 registered dancers stepped in and out of the dancing circle as people watched from a few sets of wooden bleachers. Many of the dances and ceremonies, like one to honor veterans and first responders, were intertribal. A competition also took place with $10,000 in total prize money across six categories.

One of these dancers, SunBear Coe of Pittsburgh's Hill District, described urban powwows — as opposed to powwows on reservations, of which Western Pennsylvania has none — as a melding of different indigenous cultures into a "somewhat homogenized" identity.

"The powwow has kind of grown into a multi-cultural, multi-nation, multi-tribe event," he said. "It being intertribal, we share things and teach each other things."

According to Michael Simms, the event's coordinator, people came to the powwow from as far as North Dakota and the Carolinas — even Ontario, Canada.

Some of the vendors are based in Central and South America.

"A lot of these people do this professionally," he noted about the vendors.

The nonprofit does more than put on powwows, though.

For example, the center operates four Early Head Start or Head Start locations, federally-funded facilities that provide education, health and social services to low-income families with young children. These opportunities are offered to Native and non-Native people alike. In fact, Simms said only one or two Native children are enrolled in these programs.

Other offerings are for Natives only, like the Elders Program and Native American Employment and Training Program.