Pokagon Band of Potawatomi invites the public to its fourth annual Oshke-Kno-Kewéwen pow wow, an annual celebration honoring Pokagon veterans and the community’s eagle staff.

 

The gathering of traditional singing, dancing and culture will be Saturday and Sunday, May 25 and 26, at the Pokagon Band’s pow wow arena at its Rodgers Lake

 

campus, 58620 Sink Road, Dowagiac. Parking and admission are free.

 

Oshke-Kno-Kewéwen in the Potawatomi language refers to a new eagle staff, which is much like a flag.

 

Pokagon Band veterans have constructed a new eagle staff, which holds more than 90 eagle feathers, each representing a tribal family’s veteran.

 

This pow wow honors the staff and veterans represented on it.

 

This event is considered a traditional pow wow. The Band’s long-running Kee-Boon-Mein-Kaa pow wow Labor Day weekend is a contest pow wow, where dancers compete before judges in different categories.

 

A traditional pow wow is a lower-key event focused on bringing the community together.

 

Part family reunion, part traditional ceremony, a pow wow is a time for native people to celebrate their identity and to visit and share with their friends in the greater community; and for traditional drum groups to sing their songs, for tribal dancers to perform their steps and for craftsmen and women to display their handiwork. 

 

Grand entries for the pow wow, which are the formal start of the dancing and songs, are at 1 and 6 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.

 

Both mornings, vendors and cultural presenters will set up before dancing starts.

 

Gates to the pow wow grounds open at 10 a.m.