Dakota: Prairie Island

The Prairie Island Dakota Days Wacipi Celebration is an event held annually right next to my hometown. The mission is to revive and celebrate Native American culture across the country. During this event it educates outsiders as well as natives plus some interesting dance competition. I was really sad I could not go last year because a really nice native guy (who just recently moved to the area) told me frybread is amazing.

Prairie Island has an important role in are area. The PI community works with the Red Wing community all the time. PI owns the Treasure Island Casino along with housing the PI nuclear power plant which supplies many jobs in Red Wing. According to the PI website “The Mdewakanton, “those who were born of the waters,” have lived on Prairie Island for countless generations. Located in Southeastern Minnesota along the wooded shores of the Mississippi and Vermillion Rivers, Prairie Island is a spiritual place for our people.” -(prairieisland.org)

Prairie Island owns and operates Treasure Island Resort & Casino. They call it “gaming the new buffalo” because it has helped restore some self-sufficiency. Some people become really resentful about the money that many Native American families have in my town but I don’t think it causes any major tension between the town and the Island.

Back to the Dakota Days now….

I have heard and seen many of the PI dancers, drummers and singers throughout my life. In school or at certain events I would here the drums pounding and the feathers bobbing. It is very unusual for many people who are not use to seeing this total different culture and style of dance and song. I began to think it was really cool later on in life and I know many of the PI kids and adults. My mother is a Principal of an elementary school and she and others work very closely with the Tribal Council and upstanding PI community members.

So once a year the festival occurs with large crowds showing up. But why is it important? “Our culture is slowly fading, and so, you know, that’s amongst all tribes. So, with these pow wows, these gatherings such as this, it brings a lot of the awareness back to our people and it kind of brings in all the young people, as well,” said Michael Lowe, a Hopi/Creek Native American from New Mexico. A lot of other communities will have traditional pow wows, in which they have a more of a spiritual or traditional feeling or protocol, if you will. So this is more inter-tribal gathering, where as each tribe will have their own specific gatherings for their people or ceremonial. What we’re seeing today and this weekend is more of a competition-style pow wow. I say that because we have different categories in which are competing, and exhibiting the best of their style of dance or maybe their tribal affiliations,” said Lowe.KTTC(martella, p.3)

Tribes all over the country come to this weekend-long competition and celebration. Around 80 tribes were represented and had 679 dancers compete.