We attended the 36th Annual Wa:k Pow Wow today, behind the San Xavier Mission del Bac, south of Tucson. This annual event is Tucson's largest gathering of Native American dancing, singing, arts & crafts, and food. We had fry bread for lunch just after we arrived and then we watched the Grand Entry followed by inter-tribal dancing.
The Tohono O'odham tribe hosts Wa:k Pow Wow. There are 28,000 members of the tribe, with their reservation in southern Arizona and extending across the US border into Sonora, Mexico. As we listened to the music and the Master of Ceremonies introducing people from various tribes across America, I was struck by the fact that I am descended from immigrants. The Native Americans were certainly the first people on this soil we now call America, by several hundred years. All the rest of us are immigrants or descendants of immigrants... an interesting thought in today's conversation about immigration, that pretends "white folks" are the true Americans.
We had a terrific time, sitting next to a couple from Germany, who have wintered in Tucson for 18 years, and attend Wa:k Pow Wow every year. It was a happy and colorful event!
The Tohono O'odham tribe hosts Wa:k Pow Wow. There are 28,000 members of the tribe, with their reservation in southern Arizona and extending across the US border into Sonora, Mexico. As we listened to the music and the Master of Ceremonies introducing people from various tribes across America, I was struck by the fact that I am descended from immigrants. The Native Americans were certainly the first people on this soil we now call America, by several hundred years. All the rest of us are immigrants or descendants of immigrants... an interesting thought in today's conversation about immigration, that pretends "white folks" are the true Americans.
We had a terrific time, sitting next to a couple from Germany, who have wintered in Tucson for 18 years, and attend Wa:k Pow Wow every year. It was a happy and colorful event!
