DOWAGIAC — The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians will celebrate its 10th annual Memorial Day weekend Pow Wow Saturday and Sunday by giving the event a new name.

The annual pow wow will take place Saturday and Sunday at Pokagon Band’s pow wow arena, located at its Rodgers Lake campus, 58620 Sink Road, Dowagiac. The grand entries for the pow wow, which are the formal start of the dancing and songs, will take place at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday. On both mornings, vendors will set up before the dancing starts, and the gates to the pow wow grounds will open at 10 a.m. Parking and admission to the pow wow are free.

A traditional pow wow, the event will feature song and dance in a way that allows Native Americans to celebrate their culture and share it with the community, said Andy Jackson, chairman of the pow wow committee and member of the Pokagon Band Tribal Council.

“We started this traditional pow wow so our children and our elders could dance freely,” Jackson said. “It’s a celebration that brings people from all different communities together for the springtime. You can just come, and it feels like a family reunion where everyone can get together, and everyone helps each other. You are just there to have a good time and relax.”

In addition to the festivities, the Pow Wow Committee announced that, after nine years with the name Oshke Kno Kewéwen, the pow wow would take on a new name: Ggaténmamen Gdankobthegnanêk, which translates to “we are honoring the ones we’re tied to through generations.”

“Oshke Kno Kewéwen means ‘new eagle staff,’” Jackson said. “Eagle staffs are much like a national flag for native tribes. Ten years ago, Pokagon Band veterans constructed an eagle staff, which now displays dozens of eagle feathers, each representing a tribal family and its veterans. Now after nine years, our number of eagle staffs has increased to two, and they are no longer new. The committee approached Potawatomi language speakers and asked for a new pow wow name that describes honoring ancestors. … We are honoring all of our ancestors.”

Jackson added the new name could be used long term, and it exemplifies what the pow wow was already doing. Each feather on the community eagle staffs represents a Pokagon ancestor, so instead of the pow wow name pointing to the staffs themselves, it honors all ancestors — in the past and the future, Jackson said.

Jackson said she would encourage the public to attend the pow wow to honor veterans during Memorial Day weekend and to share in Pokagon culture.

“If you are curious about who we are and what we are about, you can come to the pow wow and see our people at their finest,” Jackson said.