The word “powwow” actually began as a name. The term came from the Algonkian speaking Narragansett Indians of the north eastern part of the country we call today the United States. The word, “powwow” referred, not to a dance or celebration, but referred to a shaman or teacher, a dream or vision, or a council or gathering. When the English met with Indian leaders they would “powwow together,” or in Indian society one might visit a “powwow” because of his or her healing powers.


These gatherings sometimes became intertribal and generally involved music and dance as an expression of cultural pride and practice. Indian people gathered at various times of the year to hunt, plant, and to celebrate. They came together to renew family, clan, and tribal ties as well as to forge social and political alliances, celebrate victories, and to practice reli-gious and spiritual ceremony. Young Indian men and women met and courted and marriages were often agreed upon or arranged at these gatherings. They also conducted in gambling, games, athletic competition. This helped bringing the Indian people together in harmony and celebration.


Powwow-dancing were performed to communicate to communicate with the universe, others to honour the spirits of animals which possessed special powers such as the eagle or the buffalo. Some dances and songs were owned by specific societies within tribes and could be performed only by members of the society.
Today the powwows are a bit different. While the contemporary powwow is a cultural, ritual, social, and sometimes spiritual gathering of Indian people, it knows no tribal boundaries. Songs and dances that once were sung or danced only by a specific tribe or group are now performed by Indian people from other parts of the country. Some dancers still ask permission first to borrow or perform a dance however. Nowadays powwow provides an opportunity for people to celebrate their identification with Indian culture and have become pan-Indian and inter-tribal expressions of pride

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