Keepers of the Circle Pow Wow 2010

Last weekend the Keepers of the Circle held their fourth pow wow at their house in Rotterdam Junction, New York. The Keepers is a Native American educational and cultural association begun 20 years ago whose first meetings were held in the Friends’ Meeting House in Albany. I first became a member in 1995 and met several lifelong friends there. The Keepers is an intertribal group and acts with the next seven generations in mind. The host drums were White Buffalo and the Nimham Mountain Singers. Head dancers were Timberwolf Lamia and Kathy Johnston (Walks Not Alone).

I don't think the location could be much more lovely.

Me with the head dancers

Some lovely female dancers

At pow wows I have always met people anxious to find out who their Native ancestors were. I have always wanted to find relatives and other people like me. I volunteered to have a genealogy table at the pow wow. Thankfully a friend let me borrow his canopy for protection from the sun. I created a display of documents to look for in researching Native family. Another friend was supposed to be there representing Mohican history, but that didn’t happen. It was left to me and my Mohican elder when she was there Sunday afternoon.

Two photos of my double-sided display.

I do have one issue that I think won’t ever be settled peacefully. I believe the house is on Mohican land. The Mohawks believe the house is on their land because through a treaty that the Dutch insisted on they were awarded land west of Albany. How is this different than the Europeans settlers being given Mohican land? When you come down to it, it isn’t. It is Mohican land. My name is Loving Dove and I have spoken.  Aho.