Question

What is the difference between "competition" and "traditional" powwows

Answer 1

• Powwow, a celebration of American Indian culture in which people from diverse indigenous nations gather for the purpose of dancing, singing, and honouring the traditions of their ancestors. The term powwow, which derives from a curing ritual, originated in one of the Algonquian nations of the Northeast Indians.
• The difference between the two pow wows is intuitive with the names. A competition pow wow is set up to attract the best drums and dancers from all over by offering money through singing and dancing contests.
• A traditional pow wow does not embrace such a practice. Traditionally, pow wows were get togethers to meet family and friends and have a good time. As the popularity grew spectators were more and more welcomed.
• Eventually, to gain bigger crowds money was offered to those that would compete, thus the contest pow wow was formed. Today most pow wows offer a honorarium to singers and dancers to cover their expenses of travel to get there. This is also the case with contest pow wows, but usually the money is greater.
• Modern powwows can be grouped into two broad divisions: “competition” (or “contest”) events and those referred to as “traditional.” Competition events offer substantial prize money in various standardized dance and music categories.
• In contrast, traditional powwows offer small amounts of “day money” to all or some portion of the participants (such as the first 10, 20, or 30 dancers to register) and do not have competitive dancing or singing. Both divisions share the same order of events and styles of singing and dancing.