By Bryan Eneas

On the powwow trail: Witchekan Lake First Nation

Jul 18, 2016 | 5:00 PM

The competition powwow trail continues this week at Witchekan First Nation.

Organized by Chief Ken Thomas, the powwow was put in place to reconnect the people of Witchekan Lake with their roots.

“The powwow was set up to create awareness in the community of their culture and to encourage a lot of youth to go back to their culture,” the Witchekan Lake’s powwow committee president Marlene Thomas said.

According to Marlene, competitive dancers from Witchekan Lake are not allowed to compete.

“Because this is a competition powwow locals cannot participate. It would give them an unfair advantage; you’re not allowed to compete in it,” she said, “That’s the norm in powwow country.”

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Getting the youth involved has been a big priority for the powwow committee, according to Marlene. Despite the fact they cannot compete, youth do what they can.

“The youth have really come forward wanting to volunteer and participating in the powwow,” she said.

Because of the rules surrounding local participation, Marlene herself isn’t going to be dancing competitively, yet plans to take part in the grand entry.

“I will dance in the second grand entry, for my communities’ sake. If you’re a competitive dancer, your family, a lot of them don’t travel the powwow trail with you, so they don’t get to see you dance. So my family will get to see me dance in one grand entry,” Thomas said.

As Witchekan Lake hosts a competition powwow, cash prizes are up for grabs for the best dancers and drummers. The top four dancers in each category will receive various amounts of money based on how they place. Drum groups are competing for the largest cash prizes, and the top four will all be awarded for their efforts. The tiny tots dancing category will be paid out daily.

The Grand Entry will be at 7 p.m. at the Witchekan Lake powwow grounds on July 19. The powwow runs until July 21.  

Bryan.Eneas@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @BryanEneas