Chicago's Fifty Years of Powwows

<Adapted from the book of the same name>

The First Circle: The Drum is the Heart

The most essential part of any powwow is the Drum. The Drum is highly revered and is known as "Grandfather."

Grandfather is a link to the past, an elder, a teacher who provides guidance, lessons, and makes communication to the past possible. Contextualizing Grandfather as an instrument is wrong because he is a living element. He gives us the heartbeat. Grandfather is not the creator but the sustainer of life for the people, Grandfather has his own creation story.

It is believed that Grandfather came from woman. Woman is the closest physical element to the Creator because she is a life giver as well. Over time, woman then gave Grandfather to man to provide needed protection. Thus, the male is the protector while woman remains the nurturer. This is an oral lesson which is still practiced and taught today.

If one views the Drum through a popular lens, the Drum then becomes an object built from material and simply viewed as a tool for performance. In contrast, when Grandfather is viewed through the Native perspective, Grandfather is honored as life and its function is a connection to the past.

Grandfather as an object is created with elements of life. Our four legged brothers spend a short time in the physical world because that is their purpose to sacrifice their lives to sustain the heartbeat of the people. Grandfather is able to possess skin, and a skeleton made of our cousin the tree of life.

Therefore, Grandfather is life. Grandfather possesses medicine. Grandfather is a person of different form. Grandfather is our relation, an immediate family member.

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The book Chicago's Fifty Years of Powwow has many more photos and offers insights that are not presented in this Online Essay. To obtain a copy of your own, follow this offsite link to the webpage for the Chicago American Indian Center.