11th PowWow on the Manatawny in Pottstown led by dancers [Photos, Video]
POTTSTOWN — Johnny White Bull has been a Native American dancer almost as long as he can remember.
The resident of the Huffs Church region of Berks County has connections to the Cheyenne, Lakota and Cherokee tribes. “But I also have Russian, Hungarian and Irish blood in me, so basically, I’m an American,” he said Saturday while taking a rest from the “Grand Opening” ceremony of the PowWow on the Mantawny, held in Pottstown for the 11th year.
And, as always, White Bull, his long flowing white hair making him hard to miss, was there performing, even in the persistent drizzle which marked the day at Riverfront Park.
For him, dancing is a way “to be in touch with my creator, to pray to my creator and to thank my creator for everything,” he explained simply.
Growing up, dancer Jonathen Eaca said “at a younger age, our generation was not allowed to dance, it was forbidden. So now that we’re able to, I want to grow and to progress to even better represent our traditions.”
He was in Pottstown wearing the colorful regalia of the southern Ute tribe of Colorado. “But I live by the ocean in Brigantine (N.J.). I love living near the ocean.”
Val Korbin was at the PowWow to demonstrate and to sell the hardwood Native American flutes he has been creating for 20 years.
It all started “when I was young. I wanted a flute, I liked how they sound, but I couldn’t afford one. So I taught myself to make them,” Korbin said..
Most of his flutes “are made from hardwoods. It’s harder to work with, but the sound is clearer,” he said. “I use a lot of fruit woods, from fruit trees, they make the sweetest sounds,” he said with a wry smile.
All Native American flutes have the mouthpiece at the top, he explained. Flutes held off the side, known as “transverse” flutes, “that’s a colonial thing,” Korbin explained.
Star Mother, who goes by Pat Harbach when she is not at a PowWow, wove Native American tales for the audience, like how Turtle Mother gave her live to dive to the bottom of the ocean and bring up the mud that would become the land on which we live; how a rattlesnake convinced a boy on a vision quest to carry him to the top of a mountain and how to give bear hugs.
Her turtle story may have been the inspiration for the name of the non-profit group, Reflections of Turtle Island, which oversees the organizing of the PowWow, among other things.
At one point Harbach walked along the perimeter of the dance circle handing out coupons for bear hugs, which she demonstrated. Emcee Barry Lee was quick to add the disclaimer that it’s best not to try to use the coupon with a real black or grizzly bear, lest the bear become too enthusiastic.
Joachim Werebber came from Colorado with his girlfriend Dastyn Loyd in order to perform what is known as the “Grass Dance.”
As Lee explained, for the plains Native Americans, living in the grass lands means some pretty tall grass. “It can be up to your knees, or up to your hips” so before a PowWow or other kind of gathering, a “Grass Dance” would be performed for the very practical purpose of tamping down the grass “so everyone could see each other,” he said.
The green strands on Werebber’s regalia represents the handfulls of grass the Grass Dancers would snatch up during their performance attach to themselves.
Matt and Chris Clair hail from the Pocono town of Weatherly and have been dancers for many years.
“I don’t know how many times we’ve done this, but people kept coming to us, asking how we do this, or how we do that,” said Chris Clair with a laugh. “Now here we are again.”
Ron Williams, who helped to found the PowWow with Harbach, Lee and a few others, told the damp-but-enthusiastic crowd that the location where Manatawny Creek and the Schuylkill River come together “is an idea place to fish.”
He said “there was no settlement we know of in this area,” but it seems likely that such a sweet fishing spot would be a good place for a gathering.
Harbach told the crowd that a PowWow “is not a religious gathering. That is done in private.”
This particular gathering, the 11th to take place in Pottstown, took special trouble to show respect for veterans, which Williams and many Native Americans are; Williams spent 24 years between his time in the Army and the Navy.
Just before the “grand entrance,” Army veteran Johnny Three Eagles led a small process of veterans and Pottstown Police officers around the circle. The year’s Head Veteran is an Air Force veteran named Seeker, but he is confined to a wheelchair and so Three Eagles took upon some of the responsibilities as his assistant.
After the “Grand Entrance” the circle filled with traditional dancers and then all veterans were invited to join in and then Lee asked all those present to also honor all emergency service workers, EMTs, firefighters and the medical profession for all it did to help keep people alive during the pandemic.
Different dances then got underway, accompanied by the host “drum,” Medicine Horse Singers, and the guest drums, Grey Cloud Singers, Itchy Dog Singers and Stoney’s Boys.
Thw two-day affair concluded Sunday, with the same hours from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
View more on Mainline Media News