CEDAR CITY — The Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah will be celebrating its 44th annual “Restoration Gathering Pow-Wow” the weekend of June 7-9 in Cedar City.
“The cultural significance of a powwow is to bring intertribal communities together to dance with one another, not only for the celebration of life but as well as for healing,” Autumn Gillard, the Paiute Tribe’s cultural resource manager, told Cedar City News.
“In addition to healing for our community members, our dancers dance for individuals that aren’t able to dance for themselves, as well as for future children that are going to be born,” Gillard noted. “So, it helps bring healing and rejuvenation and positivity within tribal communities.”
According to the announcement on the tribe’s website, the three-day event is a family-friendly celebration that is free and open to everyone.
“It is an excellent opportunity for the Tribe to celebrate and share its culture and heritage with the community and the visitors to our community,” the announcement states.
“The Restoration Pow-Wow is also a celebration of our past, our future, our culture, our heritage, our lands, and our presence as the indigenous peoples of this land,” the announcement adds, noting the event is so named because it commemorates the anniversary of the restoration of the tribe’s federal recognition status on April 3, 1980.
Dancers are scheduled to perform each of the three days. The grand entries are scheduled to start at 7 p.m. on Friday, June 7, and run from 1-7 p.m. on Saturday and begin at 11 a.m. on Sunday. The arbor or arena is within a large grassy area located at 440 N. Paiute Drive in Cedar City.
Gillard explained the significance of the colorful attire worn by the dancers, which she said is properly referred to as “regalia” and should never be called a “costume.”
“The different pieces of regalia are significant to whichever dance category that individual is dancing in,” Gillard said.
The eagle feathers worn by the dancers are of special significance, Gillard said, noting that such feathers are typically earned at important milestones in the individual’s life, usually being gifted to them from a friend or a family member during a ceremony.
“It’s very sacred to display and be able to wear feathers on your regalia,” she noted.
“We believe that the feathers are very sacred and they help carry our prayers to heaven,” she said. “And the sound of them when they’re dancing, they’re speaking to each other, the feathers are.”
Gillard said a special highlight takes place when an inter-tribal dance is announced.
“You’ll hear the arena director say, ‘We’re going to have an inter-tribal. Everybody come out,’” she said. “Then that means anybody from the audience, even if you’re not Native and you don’t have regalia on, you’re welcome to go into the powwow arena and go around the corral.”
“It truly is intertribal,” she said. “That means any human that is there and attending is welcome to go out and engage in the circle. The circle of the arena is also very important to us. It’s a resemblance of the circle of life, and the drum represents the heartbeat of Mother Earth. And so it was all connected into one, and how we are connecting to our ancestral homeland.”
Other scheduled activities include a parade, a pageant, a car show, a 3-on-3 basketball tournament and handgame and cornhole competitions. For more information, refer to the flyer or visit the Paiute Tribe’s website.
See St. George News / Cedar City News’ coverage of last year’s powwow by clicking here.
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