For the last six weekends, the Facebook group Social Distance Powwow has been live-streaming with Indigenous performers from around North America in an effort to bring powwows into everyone’s homes during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Whitney Rencountre, from Rapid City, S.D., is one of three founders of the page. He says the streams take a lot of effort and planning, but it’s worth it. “In order to have a powwow, you need to gather, you need to bring people together.” Powwows are celebrations that showcase dancers, singers, music, regalia and crafts.
According to The Canadian Encyclopedia, “the origin of the term powwow can be traced to the Algonquin, who used the Narrangansett words pau wau to describe a medicine man, shaman or a gathering of