Revisiting Their Roots : Native Americans From Across U.S. Gather for Three-Day Powwow of Cultures

Five-year-old Christopher Jackson stomped his hide-covered feet and circled a dusty arena to the constant beating of drums and chants. Wiping the sweat off his chubby face afterward, he shyly counted to 10 in Navajo to the request of passersby.

Christopher, who wore a miniature war-dance outfit with feather bustles and a beaded gown, was among the most popular photo subjects at the 26th Annual Powwow at the Orange County Fairgrounds.

He politely posed for flashing cameras and whirring camcorders handled by city slickers. Many of them had never seen traditional Native American dances before.

According to Keevim Lewis, a spokesman for the Southern California Indian Center, the powwow is the largest exhibition of Native American arts, crafts, food and traditional dancing in California.

More than 20,000 people are expected to attend the three-day event, which the center began in 1968 so that people of Native American descent could “share traditional dances and songs handed down from generations,” Lewis said.

Native Americans from Orange County to Minnesota exhibited jewelry, wooden flutes, moccasins and even deer and raccoon hides in booths throughout the fairgrounds. Food vendors sold Indian fry bread, a puffy flour roll dipped in boiling oil and topped with beans, lettuce and tomatoes.

Christopher’s mom, Lorraine, said the powwow allowed her son to “keep in touch with his roots.” It was at a similar gathering earlier this year in Arizona that Christopher decided that he wanted to dance too, she said.

Lorraine Jackson, 26, and her husband, Danny, 28, didn’t join their son in the arena Saturday, but they did offer their wares.

They sold turquoise jewelry and dream catchers, which are purported in Native American legend to catch and destroy bad dreams in a webbed ring that usually hangs near a window, said Jackson, who is Apache.

Christopher, who lives on a Navajo reservation in Arizona with his parents, danced in the scorching heat Saturday along with dozens of others wearing bright traditional clothes.

Men, women and children competed since Friday for cash prizes that will be awarded to the winners in each category of the dancing competition today, Lewis said.

And despite growing fears that the younger generation of Native Americans are losing touch with their culture, many young dancers, like Christopher and 11-year-old Jin Alice, were very much aware of their roots.

Jin of Orange danced alongside her mother, brothers and sister. She wore a beaded white deer skin dress and cooled herself with a fan made of mock eagle feathers.

She is from the Comanche Wichita and Choctaw tribes, she said, and “I’ve been dancing since I’ve been walking.”

The powwow continues today from 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for teens and senior citizens, $1 for children under 12 years and free for children under 5. Donations are being taken at the gate.

The Southern California Indian Center distributes food and other items and services to needy Native Americans throughout Southern California.