Laura Pedersen / en 'Adrenaline and pure joy were feeding my soul': Nine photos from powwow at 茄子直播 /news/adrenaline-and-pure-joy-were-feeding-my-soul-nine-photos-powwow-u-t <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">'Adrenaline and pure joy were feeding my soul': Nine photos from powwow at 茄子直播 </span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/powwow-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=7-a1R6Kh 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/powwow-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=h-i0p3zf 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/powwow-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=3hdNJ1OH 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/powwow-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=7-a1R6Kh" alt="Photo of kids at powwow"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>geoff.vendeville</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2018-03-12T13:09:56-04:00" title="Monday, March 12, 2018 - 13:09" class="datetime">Mon, 03/12/2018 - 13:09</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Hundreds of people, including kids of all ages, attended the powwow at 茄子直播's Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport on March 11 (all photos by Laura Pedersen)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/geoffrey-vendeville" hreflang="en">Geoffrey Vendeville</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/laura-pedersen" hreflang="en">Laura Pedersen</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/city-culture" hreflang="en">City &amp; Culture</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/centre-indigenous-studies" hreflang="en">Centre for Indigenous Studies</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/cities" hreflang="en">Cities</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/goldring-centre" hreflang="en">Goldring Centre</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/indigenous" hreflang="en">Indigenous</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">Hundreds turn out for powwow organized by Indigenous Studies Students' Union</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Hundreds of people in a rainbow of colours filled the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport at the University of Toronto on Sunday for the Indigenous Studies Students' Union's powwow.&nbsp;</p> <p>The celebration was the second in a row&nbsp;at the university, following the ISSU's massive powwow 鈥&nbsp;the first at 茄子直播 in decades&nbsp;鈥 at the Athletic Centre last year.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淧owwow is about family 鈥 whether that鈥檚 the powwow family or the University of Toronto family,鈥 MC Bob Goulais, from&nbsp;Nipissing First Nation, told <em>茄子直播 News</em>.</p> <p>With the silky smooth voice of a radio deejay, Goulais narrated the proceedings from a table at the centre of the gym, beginning with the grand entry. Students organized the powwow, as they did last year, around the&nbsp;theme,&nbsp;鈥淗onouring our students.鈥</p> <p>鈥淗aving a university that supports cultural knowledge, Indigenous traditional knowledge, and puts on events that welcome and feature students is such an important thing,鈥 Goulais said.</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__7803 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" height="500" src="/sites/default/files/powwow-1_0.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="750" loading="lazy"></p> <p>The powwow was also an opportunity for non-Indigenous people to learn about the diversity of Indigenous languages and cultures, he added. He said he hopes visitors would take an interest in more than what met the eye,&nbsp;including the personal stories of the singers, dancers and elders&nbsp;involved.</p> <p>鈥淎 lot of the stories are about healing and how they came in touch with their culture again and became proud of who they are.鈥</p> <p><a href="/news/u-t-s-ryan-decaire-learned-kanien-k-ha-mohawk-language-and-now-teaches-it-others"><strong>Ryan DeCaire</strong>, an assistant professor at the Centre for Indigenous Studies</a> and the department of linguistics, spoke at the powwow with students from his&nbsp;<em>Kanien鈥檏茅ha</em> (Mohawk language)&nbsp;class.&nbsp;</p> <p>They took turns saying the&nbsp;<em>Ohen:ton Karihwatehkwen</em>, a prayer that roughly translates to&nbsp;鈥渢he words that come before all else鈥 and gives thanks to the elements of creation.&nbsp;</p> <p>DeCaire,&nbsp;who is Mohawk from W谩hta Kanien鈥檏eh谩:ka Territory, just east of Georgian Bay, learned the language as an adult. He's trying to pass it onto future generations through full-year&nbsp;courses at 茄子直播. The language and its inherent knowledge&nbsp;are in danger of dying out, he said, as only about 1,000 fluent speakers remain in North America 鈥 and many of them are elderly.&nbsp;</p> <h3><a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/03/03/u-of-t-assistant-prof-reviving-mohawk-language.html">Read more about DeCaire in the <em>Toronto Star</em></a></h3> <p>鈥淧eople say our knowledge is held by the elders, but it's not true; it's held by the kids,鈥 he said.&nbsp;鈥淚f inter-generational transmission comes to an end, the knowledge can no longer continue.鈥</p> <p>He said he was touched by the large turnout for the powwow, to see hundreds of people come together to celebrate Indigenous culture and traditions.</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__7807 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" height="500" src="/sites/default/files/powwow-dancer.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="750" loading="lazy"></p> <p><strong>Jenny Blackbird</strong>, an artist, hand drummer and singer of&nbsp;Nehiyaw-Finnish background who works for the Centre for Indigenous Studies,&nbsp;said the event shows great leadership by ISSU, the students and volunteers, who are helping build a community at 茄子直播.</p> <p>鈥淥ur ceremonies and our dancing were banned (in Canada),鈥 she said. 鈥淔or today, for us to be able to celebrate&nbsp;and do what we feel is right for us, is really good and very important.鈥</p> <p><strong>Ziigwen Mixemong</strong>, the head female dancer and membership support coordinator at ISSU, said she was almost overcome with emotion during the grand entry. 鈥淢y mom and dad were both there and I literally couldn't look at them or I'd start to cry,鈥 she said.</p> <p>The highlight of the event for her was seeing young children and students participate in the intercultural experience, which attracted people from as far as Thunder Bay and incorporated M茅tis jiggers, Inuit throat singers and Aztec dancers.</p> <p>Her opposite number, the head male dancer, was a faculty connection: The role was filled by<strong> Amos Key Jr.</strong>, an assistant professor at the Centre for Indigenous Studies and in the department of linguistics.</p> <p>ISSU executive member&nbsp;<strong>Olivia Miller</strong>&nbsp;was in charge of managing the 40 volunteers for the event, but was able to pause briefly to watch the fancy shawl dancers from the mezzanine overlooking the gym.&nbsp;</p> <p>Miller added an Indigenous Studies major after she realized she knew little about Indigenous languages or cultures. After their orientation session, she said many volunteers told her the powwow made them more curious about Indigenous culture and that they felt a 鈥渘eed to begin the process of orienting themselves to Indigenous knowledge and culture.鈥</p> <p>She and the other student organizers 鈥 Mixemong,&nbsp;<strong>Joshua Bowman</strong>,&nbsp;<strong>Julia Mogus</strong>,&nbsp;<strong>Grace Webster</strong>,&nbsp;and&nbsp;<strong>Jennifer Sylvester</strong>&nbsp;鈥 are planning a debrief meeting soon so the next executives can plan an even bigger powwow next year.</p> <p>Speaking a day after the event, Mixemong said&nbsp;she was still sore from all the dancing.&nbsp;鈥淎drenaline and pure joy were feeding my soul,鈥 she said.&nbsp;</p> <hr> <h2>Here are more of staff photographer Laura Pedersen's favourite photos from the powwow:</h2> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__7804 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" height="500" src="/sites/default/files/powwow-2.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="750" loading="lazy"></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__7805 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" height="500" src="/sites/default/files/powwow-3.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="750" loading="lazy"></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__7806 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" height="500" src="/sites/default/files/powwow-crowd.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="750" loading="lazy"></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__7808 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" height="500" src="/sites/default/files/powwow-dancer-colours.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="750" loading="lazy"></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__7809 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" height="500" src="/sites/default/files/powwow-getting-ready.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="750" loading="lazy"></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__7810 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" height="500" src="/sites/default/files/powwow-goldring.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="750" loading="lazy"></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__7811 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" height="500" src="/sites/default/files/powwow-grandchild.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="750" loading="lazy"></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 12 Mar 2018 17:09:56 +0000 geoff.vendeville 131203 at