The recent set of photos from the Saddle Lake Powwow are stunning - you can almost hear and taste the experience thanks to Bert Crowfoot's beautiful photography.
But it's not your standard festival of performance - it's "a space for dialogue between artists and London audiences... to exhibit and explain, to perform and inform, to debate and celebrate".
Exciting stuff. As is their emphasis that while Indigenous cultures are ancient, they're neither dead nor outdated. Artists will be contributing their views on current issues - climate change, human rights, globalization and colonialism.
Colonialism is back with a vengeance. The only difference today is that the aggressors are not privateers and pioneers armed with beads and bibles, but international corporations, so powerful and so prosperous that they answer to no government, but rather expect governments to answer to them. ... What’s more, many of the mining companies –Rio Tinto being the prime example – are run from the City of London. It’s high time that the indigenous people come to London, and that their voices are heard in what remains a centre of colonial aggression.
That’s what the Origins Festival is aiming to do, writes Micheal Walling, in the New Internationalist: First Nations festival kicks off in London
The Origins: First Nations Festival takes place June 28-July 9, 2011 in London, UK. Visit originsfestival.bordercrossings.org.uk for full event listings.
There's a great story behind why the gathering happens this time of year:
The powwow's Fourth of July roots go back to the late 1800s, when the reservation's federal Indian agent told the tribes here that such celebrations were being permanently banned.
It was, the agent explained, time for the Indians to walk away from their traditions and join white society.
So the local Indians told the agent that instead of a powwow, they would throw a party to honor America's birthday.
"The chief was kind of smart," Arlee says. "He convinced the agent they were celebrating the Fourth of July."
In reality, it was the first Arlee Powwow.
And this year is the 113th!
Entrance to the Arlee Powwow is free, and everyone is welcome.
Thousands Expected for Arlee Powwow [Missoulian]
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