By Donna K. Britsch
This past weekend was the Catawba Nation Pow Wow held at Winthrop Coliseum arena. The 3-day event had four “Grand entry” events
that were extremely colorful and competitive.
Tribal nations from across the nation competed in the dancing and drumming. I saw license plates from California Maryland Texas and Florida in the parking lot.
The master ceremonies explain Pow Wow protocol as the participants competed to win cash prizes.
This was an opportunity to learn about indigenous people and their traditions that live in our County.
The Catawba Nation is located by Rock Hill. They are passing on through the generations not only their dancing and drumming but also their pottery making. Some of the local Catawba pottery makers have become quite famous.
The Pow Wow competition was from tiny tots to seniors and all the other age groups in between. Not only were the dancers footwork competitive but they wore traditional outfits and intricate regala of bright colors. At the beginning of the ceremony they honored the elders and all veterans that were in the Coliseum.
The dances were competitive, traditional and fancy smoke dances. Each group had a winner including the little tiny tots.
The competition included approximately a dozen male drummers for each group. The drum songs were traditional native American songs.
I asked about females in the drummers section and was told by someone from the tribe that women do not compete in this. But women do perform. The Women of the River Drummers will perform from 10:00 to 2:00 on May 5th. They will be performing at the fountain Park in Rock Hill. I plan to be there!
The Catawba’s are one of 573 tribes in the United States. They are the only tribe in the state of South Carolina and have approximately 3,300 members. They live in ancestral lands along the Catawba River.
In fact when I moved to Tega Cay in 1988 I had a surprise at the closing of my home. The Catawba Indians had filed a claim on the property. So it delayed our moving into the house until we had insurance to cover the Catawbas claim.
In 1993 the Catawbas had a land claim settlement with the state of South Carolina and release their claims to all land in this area.
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