Fred says: The Booth It was a sunny morning a long time ago when I woke up from my makeshift bed at the back of a big white booth. My parents had been commissioned to run the canteen at our local reserve pow wow. Though we lived a short distance from the pow wow grounds my parents decided to camp out in the canteen booth with their little family. I was only about 4 years old. The great big shutters had not yet been opened. My parents began to prepare for the days business. They let me help them put the glass pop bottles into a galvanized horse trough that was half filled with water. Back then we didn’t call them “Pop” but we called them “Soft Drinks” or “ Sos drinks “ as most little kids my age called them. I loved hearing the little “plop” as I put a soft drink into the water. I asked if I could have a soft drink but my Mom told me “Maybe later but not right now!” After I was done with the soft drinks my parents began to put out the chips and candy. Once again I was denied access to them. ‘These are not ours. We have to sell them” they told me. Instead they gave me a bowl of puff wheat mixed with powdered milk for breakfast. My dad then began to open up the big horizontal shutters that had been closed for the night. The shutters opened up to a panoramic view of the pow wow grounds brush arbor. I heard bells jingling all over the campgrounds as the different dancers prepared for a day of rigorous dancing. Different groups of men came carrying big bass drums and bags of drumsticks as they prepared to sing all day long. The sun was shining brightly that morning as people began to come from their tents to begin sitting under the brush arbor to watch the singing and dancing all day. The first drum I heard beat a fast beat. It was just the first group preparing to open the pow wow. I loved the different colors of the drums. Some were red, some were blue, green, brown and one white one. The drums I seen back then were not leather like the ones I see being used by todays drum groups. They were mostly all big bass drums that you would probably see a marching band use. The first drum group began to beat their drums and instantly I was mesmerized. The music captivated me. It brought such a good feeling of excitement and warmth over me. I even started to dance. As a little boy I had often daydreamed of dancing pow wow in full regalia. I also had a great desire to become a pow wow singer and drummer. The drummers then began to sing and just when I thought things couldn’t sound any better the bells began to ring. The dancers in full regalia and the ladies in their blankets and jingle dresses began to dance in a big circle around the center of the brush arbor. The pounding beat of the drums, the wonderful loud singing and clinging of the bells all excited me beyond belief. As a little child I was totally captivated to the opening proceedings. As the morning wore on the excitement wore off in my little four year old world. I went back to the caboose where my parents were still selling chips, candies and soft drinks. This time they gave me a drink and chips. I was so happy drinking my orange crush and eating my Old Dutch plain potato chips. I wanted to do this again. The dancing continued all day long with many people coming to our booth. Pretty soon we were running out of mostly everything. A man in a truck came to the booth with boxes of chips and candy and crates of Soft drinks and once again I had the joy of hearing the bottles go “plop” as I put them in the water in the galvanized horse trough. After restocking the soft drinks I went back under the arbor. It was evening now. The announcer called for everyone who wanted to join the dancers for a round of dancing. I watched all the people young and old get up and begin to dance around inside the arbor. This was it! This was my big opportunity I thought. I began to dance out into the crowd of dancers with my little pow wow dance. I was so excited. I didn’t realize at my young age that this would be my only time ever to dance at a pow wow in my life. After the dance the people all began to return to their seats and the drum group began to sing and play another song. The dancers began to dance once again. I got excited and began to dance again. I didn’t even make one round when one of my uncles came up to me and gently grabbed my arm. “You have to sit down. You can’t dance now. This is only for the dancers in regalia!” he told me. I was so disappointed and a little embarrassed. I went and sat down for a little while and then went back to the booth. Sales had slowed down and my parents leaned on the counter just watching the action. “So you danced pow wow?” my Mom asked me. “Yaw. It was real good. I wanna be a pow wow dancer Mom. Can you buy me a suit so I can dance alla time?” I asked. “We’ll see” was all she said. The pow wow was over for the night and the drummers began to pack up their instruments. The sounds of bells were heard everywhere as people began to go back to their tents or vehicles to change into their regular clothes. Many of the spectators folded up their blankets and pillows and waddled back to their tents with their heavy loads . A few campfires burnt around the campsite. Some campfires had little tripods over them with pots or teapots hanging from them. My Mom and Dad began to close the big shutters and prepare us for bed. My Mom fixed up our make shift beds again and prepared to put us to sleep. I remember her covering me up and saying goodnight. “Can I dance pow wow tomorrow again?” I asked her. “If they let the little kids dance again.” she said. I remember going to sleep all excited for the next day. It had been the most exciting day in the life of a little four year old Indian boy. I never did get to dance again but I still remember the feeling of pride and excitement as my little legs danced pow wow just like the big guys.
Posted on: Wed, 31 Jul 2013 02:22:21 +0000
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