Heritage High School to host Traditional Pow Wow

The same Columbia River that flows past Vancouver on its way to the sea also runs alongside the Colville Indian Reservation in northeastern Washington. For the Nasewytewa-McAllister family, that’s a profound and living link to heritage and culture.

“The river means everything to us,” said Stacey Nasewytewa-McAllister, a Colville and Hopi Indian who has lived most of her life, and raised her family, in Vancouver. “But I’m done teaching my children about that. They teach me now.”

On a cold, sunny afternoon last week, Nasewytewa-McAllister and her daughter, Kat McAllister, visited Vancouver’s spiffy new waterfront development to enjoy that link in person. Eighteen-year-old McAllister donned the gleaming green regalia she inherited from her older sister and performed a butterfly dance around the Grant Street Pier.

“When we dance, we’re praying,” said McAllister, who has been selected as the Head Lady Dancer for this year’s Traditional Pow Wow, set for March 2 at Heritage High School. Praying for ancestors, praying for family, even praying for “all the people who are watching us dance,” she said.

As Head Lady Dancer, McAllister said, it’ll be her job to serve as a role model. “Everybody is watching you,” she said. “It’s a big responsibility.”

But she’s ready for it, she added, and her mother mused about life coming full circle. “My parents went away” from native culture and tried to assimilate into white society, Nasewytewa-McAllister said; her father worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and her mother for the Indian Health Service, but participating in cultural activities like powwows was not part of Nasewytewa-McAllister’s upbringing. Her family went, but hung around the edges, she said.

Nasewytewa-McAllister has raised her own family differently, strongly embracing and passing along her native heritage. She’s been a key driver of the Native American Parent Association of Southwest Washington, which has hosted powwows and other cultural activities here for decades. McAllister is her third child to grow up dancing at annual powwows.

“Ever since I could walk,” McAllister said.

Powwow primer

What is a powwow? It’s a colorful, noisy, prideful, fun-yet-serious gathering of Native Americans to dance, drum and share their culture with one another, and with you. Everyone is welcome to attend and take in the spectacle.
“It’s all day long, and it’s free. You can come and go as you please,” said organizer Dave Jollie. In the Heritage High School gym, different styles of traditional dancers sporting different styles of regalia will take the floor throughout the day, while visiting drum groups take turns singing and driving the big, booming beat. In the school cafeteria, vendors will offer traditional crafts and foods, and a raffle will support the Native American Parent Association.

Key pointer if you’ve never attended a powwow: Don’t miss one of the two Grand Entry parades, set for 1 and 6 p.m., as all dancers stride into the arena in a display of color and motion that’s both dazzling and solemn. All veterans are introduced by name. “We are big on respecting elders and veterans,” said Jollie.

McAllister said she loves everything about powwows: the other dancers and their different techniques, the vendors and food, and “just everybody being together,” she said.

McAllister is getting ready to graduate from Columbia River High School, where she plays viola in the advanced orchestra, and head for Clark College to study nursing. But, she added, she’s also interested in exploring the world — especially Japan, because she’s intrigued by the culture there.

A possible trip to Japan was news to her mother, who chuckled about discovering new things about her daughter via a Columbian interview. Life does move along and children grow up, she acknowledged — but she feels great about the heritage she’s instilled in her kids.

“We have such a strong family unit,” Nasewytewa-McAllister said. “Most teenagers don’t want to hang around with their elders.”