Goodbye, cabin fever: Bismarck winter powwow promotes healing

While a drum group beat out a steady song, Richard Street, Crow, Sioux and Muscogee from the Spirit Lake Reservation, followed the dance procession during the first grand entry, which began at 1 p.m. Street has been dancing in powwows for 54 years and, after grand entry, he told Buffalo’s Fire that for a one-day winter powwow there was a big turnout with good energy. He said the powwow, which promoted healing, helped to banish his “cabin fever.”

“I couldn’t wait to be here,” he said, “to put on the outfit.” He wore a beaded vest and wrist cuffs he bought in Canada and a feather headpiece and bustle he made himself, which he worked on with his sons and his sons’ friend, Kole Three Irons. Three Irons danced in the powwow alongside Street during grand entries at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Street won in his age divisions for mens traditional. Powwow dance themes also included fancy, grass, jingle and chicken.

Easton Wolf, Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, won in teen boys traditional. He said he heard about the powwow from his friends, who have “been dying to have a powwow ever since summer ended.” Wolf, who attends high school in Bismarck, said, encouraged by his dad, he has been dancing for five years now.

“I get adrenaline every time I dance,” he said. “I dance for everyone out there. I dance for me. I love it.”

Another dancer, Cyra Plainfeather, MHA Nation and Crow, woke up at 4 a.m. to drive to the powwow from Montana State University, where she just started her first semester.

“I’ve been dancing since I was little and COVID took that away from me,” she said, mentioning she only got back into competitive powwow dancing two years ago. “It’s been baby steps getting back into it.”

She danced in womens traditional on Saturday and didn’t place but said she enjoyed being able to compete and make new friends.

Tribal kinship is at the heart of a powwow, said Lorraine Davis, CEO of Native Inc., an organization that offers culturally grounded services to unhoused Indigenous people and people facing addiction in North Dakota. She said that through connections to community and cultural identity, she’s seen families fight off addiction, abuse and mental health issues.

Beyond organizing the powwow, Native Inc. holds Native craft and culture classes twice a week, helping Native individuals in the Bismarck area make their own powwow regalia. Davis said the classes help people overcome financial and knowledge barriers that keep people out of the powwow circle.

“We want to see all of our people be able to dance,” she said.

After the second grand entry, the powwow celebrated two community members who received services at Native Inc. who are overcoming addiction. Angela Buckley-Tochek from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Matthew Huss from the MHA Nation, who got out of treatment that day, gave out hugs and handshakes to community members during an honor song dedicated to them and received star quilts from Native Inc.

Davis said she hopes the Winter Jam encourages other powwows to adopt similar recognitions.

The powwow wrapped up before 11 p.m., and winning dancers and drum groups took home prize money. For each dance category, three juniors aged 6-12 took home $100 in prize money, three teens aged 13-17 took home $200 in prize money and three adults aged 50 and up took home $300 in prize money.

Drum groups Toka Nuwa, The Descendants and Ho Chunk Station won the singing competition and took home the biggest prize offerings — in order, $5,000 for first place, $4,000 for second place and $3,000 for third place.