Powerful vocals and drums echoed through the Travis County Expo Center on Saturday as hundreds of dancers in decadent, bright regalia made their grand entrance at the 32nd annual Austin Powwow.
“I love dancing, but being around the drum, it's just something that you really can't describe,” Tatiana Barcindebar said. “The feeling that your heart gets whenever you're around it, I just really love the singers.”
The celebration is a Native American heritage festival that brings tribes from all over the country together to practice and experience their culture. The festival draws roughly 15,000 people each year and is open to everyone with the hope of "promoting traditional arts and knowledge, dispelling myths and encouraging appreciation of this rich and diverse culture," according to its website.
“[Austin Powwow] brings a variety of different native cultures into one space,” said Nicole Welch, a member of the Chickasaw tribe in Oklahoma. “We get to experience their version of culture and their beliefs, and they get to experience ours. That’s very important, especially for the public.”
Many attendees said they have memories of the Austin Powwow dating back to its start in 1991. Lisa Nava, the hospitality coordinator for the event, said she has come with her family for more than 20 years and appreciates the community the gathering brings.
“One year you meet them, and then the next year they're family,” Nava said. “I mean, the head man, I've seen him since he was two years old. And now he's the Head Man Dancer for this Powwow.”
Austin Powwow is a place where generations of people come together to celebrate each other. Welch said these events also help preserve Native American culture.
“It’s important for us to continue to communicate within our tribes and make sure that we're practicing our history,” Welch said. “We're practicing our culture for the future generations, because as soon as you stop, your culture dies with it.”
