Rochester Public Schools to host powwow for first time since pandemic began – Post Bulletin

Lisa R. Parker

ROCHESTER — For the 1st time considering the fact that prior to the pandemic, Rochester Community Educational institutions will host an in-person powwow in honor of its Native American college students and their family members.

The powwow will be held Saturday, May possibly 21, 2022, at Mayo Significant University, with the grand entry beginning at 1 p.m. The function is open up to the community.

A powwow is a conventional Native American ceremony that focuses on singing and dancing. According to a push launch from RPS, this year’s occasion will contain “invited drums, small tot distinctive, 50/50 raffle, hand drum contest, handmade American Indian products, and more.”

This year’s party also will incorporate a Feather Ceremony, which has been held independently in several years earlier. In accordance to Amelia Cordell, American Indian Liaison for RPS, there are 7 Native youth graduating this 12 months.

“A massive part of any celebration, you receive an eagle feather,” Cordell reported. “(It represents) the relevance that you have long gone via a little something truly hard, and you have acquired it.”

The powwow is just one particular of several actions the college district has produced in latest years to emphasize its romance with the Indigenous American local community. In 2021, a student nominated the name “Dakota” for the new middle faculty, which was then permitted as the last decision.

Also, throughout each and every university board conference, the chairperson reads a assertion, acknowledging the district amenities are situated on the ancestral land of the Dakota people.

Although the function is held by the university district, it will appeal to dancers and households from a extensive area. Cordell explained the powwow will attract people today from as considerably away as South Dakota, as perfectly as from nearer tribes, these as those people in Shakopee and Prairie Island.

In 2021, RPS held a sequence of virtual situations and speakers to choose the put of an true powwow.

There are approximately 175 Native American households attending Rochester Public Educational facilities, representing a variety of sovereign nations.

“The RPS Celebration Pow-wow is a exceptional prospect for our American Indian community which is designed of customers of many different tribes to arrive jointly and honor our graduates as 1,” a statement from the district explained.

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