Native American dancers performed in what had started off as a gloomy day at the fourth annual South Bayfront Powwow at Marina View Park in Chula Visa.
But eventually the sun came out and 40 different tribal members from across the United States came together for song, dance, prayer and fun at the two-day event that took place last weekend.
Randy Edmonds, 82, from the Kiowa/Caddo tribe in Oklahoma said the powwow is a grand celebration for Native Americans, as well as an opportunity to educate the public about their culture.
“For so long the United States government wouldn’t let us do our dances, they were censored because they fought us when they first came from Europe,” Edmonds, who also served as the master of ceremony, said.
“We laid dormant until about 1954, we began singing our songs again. We advocated to the United States government that we needed to continue our tradition because it’s going to be lost. Our children won’t know who they are, so we began to do our songs and dances.”
The event kicked off with a blessing of the arena, a small circular area sacred to the dancers that prohibited non-participants from entering because of a special smoke used for the blessing that could bring bad luck to them. Prayer men blessed the arena with incense. Once the arena becomes blessed, it becomes the church for the performers.
Bird singers from Campo followed the blessing and told the story through song about the area that they once inhabited.
“Gourd dancing is an old warrior-type dance where the protectors of our tribes, they are the ones that if somebody tried to invade us, they would fight them off (with the dance),” Edmonds said. Some gourd dancers included veterans of the U.S. armed forces.
Chula Vista resident Jesus Correa went for his morning walk around Marina View Park and happened to find the event during his walk.
He said he is usually done with his walk in about an hour. Four hours into the powwow, Correa was still in attendance watching with plans of staying until the end.
“I love it,” he said. “ I didn’t know about it, wish I had known about it in year’s past.”
