Dix Park pow wow brings together NC tribes ... and generations of Native Americans
In the center of a large pow wow, five toddlers stared wide-eyed at the cheering audience encircling them.
Dressed in brightly colored feathers and embroidery, some took shelter behind their parent’s leg. Others warmed to familiar drum beats, allowing the bells around their legs to jingle as they bounced.
The “tiny tot” category is maybe the least technically impressive part of a pow wow but holds the most symbolic significance to North Carolina’s tribes — it’s an assurance that the next generation of Native Americans are learning their traditions.
“The only time I get worried is when I call tiny tots and the arena is empty,” said Ryan Dial-Stanley, the event’s emcee.
At the second annual Intertribal pow wow at Dix Park on Saturday, North Carolina’s next generation of Native Americans showed up. Nearly a hundred dancers entered the event’s various competitions, many of them children or young adults. All eight of the state-recognized tribes were represented in the dance competition or among the vendors.
Chance Jacobs, 3, was the third generation of his family to dance in Saturday’s event. It was important to his family that he participated, even if he mostly stood still. Amanda Ballard, Chance’s grandmother who danced in the “golden age” category, said it kept the family’s heritage alive.
Chance toddled into the arena wearing the same blue and orange outfit his father wore two decades earlier.
“We’ve got to take care of our stuff,” Ballard said. “You can’t buy this at Walmart.”
Caiden Tortalita traveled five hours from Cherokee, N.C., to compete at the event. He was 7 years old, but was bumped up to the teenage “fancy dance” category for stiffer competition.
He had learned to play the drums and move to his tribe’s music long before he could speak, his mother said. Now, he spun furiously in the center of the arena and threw his dance sticks high into the air. The bright yellow imitation feathers on his outfit (he’s not old enough to take care of real eagle feathers yet, his mom said) bounced with his body to the beat.
Organizers created the Dix Park pow wow to honor the land’s history, said Trey Roberts, the park’s community engagement manager and a member of the Haliwa-Saponi tribe.
Centuries ago, the land that is now Dix Park was used a hunting ground for the Native American tribes that surrounded it. The Triangle Native American Society officially blessed the land in 2020 and acknowledged the land as Coharie, Cherokee, Haliwa-Saponi, Lumbee, Meherrin, Occaneechi, Sappony, and Waccamaw Siouan.
Many of the kids competing at Raleigh’s second annual began dancing to pow wow drums before they could walk. Le Peace, a member of the Haliwa-Saponi tribe, insisted her son started dancing even before that — in the womb.
“A typical baby cries when they hear the drums, a native baby sleeps,” she said.
This story was originally published October 8, 2022 at 6:31 PM with the headline "Dix Park pow wow brings together NC tribes ... and generations of Native Americans."
