All first-class speeches -and by association AMDAL posts- begin with a quotation from
Webster's Dictionary about the meaning of the word in the title of the speech. To use the idiom "in that vein," in that vein, let us think about the etymology of the word Powwow, as today marks the beginning of the 2010 Dartmouth Pow-Wow, a tradition that started here in the 1970s.
The use of the word
Powwow, as defined by some online etymology looker-upper, dates back to 1624 and was first used to denote a "priest, sorcerer" in a southern New England Algonquian language. The current usage, including Dartmouth's application of the word here, harks to 1663 and more precisely translates as a magical ceremony among Native American Indians.
The Dartmouth Pow-Wow is special for many reasons. It's one of just six times a year where the College/ town of Hanover formally allow a ceremony on the Green; it attracts nearly 2,000 visitors annually from across the country and represents the second largest celebration of Native American pride/ history/ culture in the Northeast. And it helps to celebrate Dartmouth's age-old connection with and mission of educating this country's native peoples. Sorry Sars, but it probably also stirs up the all-too-frequent Dartmouth Indian debate.
On a personal note, to me the Dartmouth Pow-Wow serves as a fun weekend to witness and experience a part of this country, a niche of our collective culture, we too frequently dismiss and intentionally hide. It also reminds me of my own Native heritage. Apparently when I was three years-old, on a vacation to Wyoming, we visited an Indian museum. Despite typically playing the cowboy rather than the Indian in all my childhood "makebelieve," and despite carrying two silver 6-shooters on my hip, I strode up to a display of a young Indian boy's formal dress and in total seriousness made the case to my mother that in a previous life I had worn that outfit. So here's to our Native heritage, be it legitimate, fake, adopted or educational. Enjoy the Pow-Wow.
Oh, and every time I say Pow-Wow I can't help but think of this:
So much for cultural sensitivity.
