1 of 10

(Nicole Hester / The Natchez Democrat)

(Nicole Hester / The Natchez Democrat)

Ginny Richard, of New Orleans, of the Mowa Band of the Choctaw stands in front of one of the mounds at Grand Village of Natchez Indians Sunday during the 30th Annual Natchez Powwow. Richard started jingle dancing when she was 6, after a 15 year hiatus Richard started attending powwows again 2 years ago. Richard said on a personal level, when she dances she feels that connection to her family the earth and to ancestors, especially being at the Grand Village of Natchez Indians. "Look at what they left us, look at what survived all these years," she said. (Nicole Hester / The Natchez Democrat)

Kendall Wallace of Pearl River, member of the Choctaw tribe, dances during an Intertribal dance during the 30th annual Natchez Powwow at the Grand Village of Natchez Indians. (File Photo | The Natchez Democrat)

Kendall Wallace of Pearl River, member of the Choctaw tribe, stands near one of the mounds at the Grand Village of Natchez Indians Sunday during the 30th annual Natchez Powwow. Wallace has been attending powwows for 5 1/2 years and he said he dances, in memory of his mother, Beverly Ann Wallace who died February 14, 2016. "After she passed, like everything I do is for her," Wallace said. "When I get in that circle it makes me happy, it makes me feel like I'm with her again, like my spirit and her spirt are together again." (Nicole Hester / The Natchez Democrat)

The Annual Natchez Powwow kicks off at 9 a.m. Saturday on the Natchez Bluff. (file photo)

Allis Gilstrap of Marietta Georgia, member of the Eastern Cherokee and Choctaw Nations dances during the intertribal dance Saturday during the 30th Annual Natchez Powwow at the Grand Village of Natchez Indians. Gilstrap said dancing is what has helped her through some of the hardest times in her life. "If I was not a dancer, if I was not dancing I would probably be dead for sure." Gilstrap said, "It's the want and the drive. and say "oh I have powwow next month" or "I just finished this fan" or "I just finished this bead work", it makes you want more and makes you want to go for it." She said you become a happier person and you dance with a pride and elegance, with your head held high and that whenever she dresses up like this she feels like the most beautiful person in the entire world. "I'm extremely blessed and very happy to be here and have such a wonderful powwow family and friends and sisters and aunties and uncles." Gilstrap said, "I'm proud to say I'm a Native American Woman." (Nicole Hester / The Natchez Democrat)

(Nicole Hester / The Natchez Democrat)

Kyla Sims, Princess Liha, of the Houma tribe, from Harrisburg dances in the circle for the Intertribal dance Saturday during the 30th Annual Natchez Powwow at the Grand Village of Natchez Indians. (Nicole Hester / The Natchez Democrat)

Jeremy Thigpen, of Memphis, member of the Cherokee tribe waits before entering the circle for the Intertribal dance Saturday during the 30th Annual Natchez Powwow at the Grand Village of Natchez Indians. (Nicole Hester / The Natchez Democrat)

Caution tape wrapped around trees at the Grand Village of Natchez Indians directed visitors through the woods to the background sound of beating drums that become louder with every step closer to the center of the Natchez Powwow.

Past the woods was a clearing where a semi-circle of food trucks and craft booths selling items such as jewelry, beadwork and arrowhead spears.

Visitors sat outside the circle on lawn chairs and blankets listening to the master of ceremonies and watching traditional dancing, such as grand entry and intertribal dancing and gourd dance. Specific to Southeastern Native American tribes, the drum is placed in the in the center of the circle and the dancers move clockwise.

Scierra LeGarde, 27, of New Orleans said she has been dancing for seven years and attending powwows all her life. She belongs to the Bayou Lacombe Band of Choctaws and came to participate in Saturday’s 30th annual Natchez Powwow at the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians.

“Indian country is so huge, our traditions are so different,” LeGarde said. “Southeast tradition is way different from up north.”

LeGarde said that when she was growing up they didn’t have a lot of powwows and are now just starting to have them again.

“It’s just like another family reunion for us, a chance to celebrate our culture,” LeGarde said. “That’s why I really like doing this because it reminds us of who we are, and it makes it special.”

She said in the 1980s powwows seemed to be dying out.

Collations of Southeastern tribes such as Southeastern Bands of Choctaw and Cherokee came together in efforts to preserve and renew their culture. Now LeGarde said she has noticed many millennial-aged powwow dancers and said it is one of the reasons so many powwows exist in the Louisiana area.

“A lot of elders are afraid that once they die our culture will be dead, so they were practical enough to make these powwows happen,” LeGarde said. “A lot of people our age (20 somethings) are now dancing again.”

On a personal level, LeGarde said she dances to celebrate her family’s history and enjoys meeting new tribal people from different nations and meeting nonnatives, too.

“Throughout the years we’ve been oppressed a lot, and I’m not trying to single us out,” she said. “A lot of people have been oppressed, but this is now my way of being happy to say yes we’re still here.”

LeGarde’s sister, Ginny Richard, said she returned to dance two years ago after a 15-year hiatus.

Dressed in red regalia, 28-year-old Richard of New Orleans said she remembers coming to Natchez as a child.

“Natchez is a great powwow because it is a dancers’ and singers’ powwow,” she said.

While Richard says the dances are enjoyable there is also a great deal of responsibility.

At a young age Richard said she learned that as a dancer you are an ambassador representing your family and your people and even your style of dance is telling their story.

“Specifically, this dress is a medicine dress,” Richard said. “When we’re dancing, we’re praying for healing for people and for Mother Earth. Every single jingle on here was made with a prayer and when we dance, we’re praying.”

Richard said she asks people if there is anyone they want her to pray for while she dances.

“That’s part of being an ambassador is knowing your responsibility, and your privilege of being able to do these dances. It’s fun but it’s a lot more than that,” Richard said.

Richard said she hopes people come out to the powwows to observe and ask questions about what they are doing.

“A lot of people view what we do as an artifact or remnant from the past,” Richard said. “We’re still here. We still live here. We’re alive and our traditions and our cultures are changing and intermingling just like yours are, and don’t think we’re reenacting. We’re not reenacting. This is who we are and this is what we do, and if you choose to live a native way of life whether you powwow or not, that’s a way of life and just like any other way of life it continues to evolve.”

Saturday’s event marked the 30th year of the Natchez Powwow where Tribes represented include Choctaw, Comanche, Kiowa, Natchez, Otoe, Osage and Ponca.

More News

Decision Day: Adams County sees robust voter turnout

No word on when Magnolia Bluffs will reopen

‘Still fighting for justice’: 13-year-old’s poetry on display at Natchez Museum of African American History

DECISION 2024: Live precinct results for Concordia Parish