This weekend I had the opportunity to attend a weekend gathering (pow wow) at Pelican Falls First Nation highschool. I traveled along side of my husband, my two sons, my daughter, and two friends. We stayed and checked into a nice hotel, drove around the small town of Sioux Lookout and then headed out to Pelican Falls. I'm a jingle dress dancer, and so is my daughter and we attend many gatherings throughout Ontario which is a lot of fun. My sons are drummers and singers, so they also attend a lot of gatherings with us or with other groups that are traveling during the summer months. It's a lot of fun we enjoy each other's company, crack jokes, tell stories, share information, meet people, see old friends, dance, celebrate life, and enjoy the outdoors. This weekend we met some ladies from Wisconsin who took our picture and shared with us their thoughts and some background, it was nice. My husband got to see some community members from his reserve, and he really enjoyed that. Most of all, he got to see his cousin who we haven't seen for nearly fourteen years and it was so nice. We've wanted to bump into him for so long, he hadn't seen our kids since they were small and he was quite surprised because how much they've grown since he saw them. He was speechless. So before we left him, we went out for a bite to eat and gave him our address and phone number so he could contact us when he needed to. He's a long time guide with an outfitters camp and he loves his job because he's been at it for over ten years. It was a great time. Best of all, the weather was beautiful all weekend and we couldn't have asked for more. Pow wows are a great time for us, to relax and have fun because that's what it's about. As a jingle dress dancer it means a lot to me to be there for the people, to dance for the people for healing. I will always present tobacco to the Creator in thanks before I dance at pow wows, and this pow wow was no different. Of course, I have to say that it was an emotional time for me because it was the first time I wore my new dress at this pow wow. And knowing that this place had so much history of abuse with the Residential School being there once upon a time, I was moved while dancing at times. I felt as if the spirits who were long gone we right there with me, dancing with me. It was amazing. I will never forget this experience, it is one the will stay with me for a long time to come.
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