Last weekend a group of 10 of us went on a little cultural exploration to see the annual Pow-Wow in Kahnawake, which is a Mohawk territory on the south shore of Montreal. Our group hailed from Quebec, Ontario, France, the Netherlands, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, and I believe that for all of us it was our first pow-wow of this nature. A pow-wow is a big intertribal cultural gathering and dance competition. The costumes were just incredible, really much more impressive and beautiful than in two-dimensions on t.v. or on this blog. You just have to go there to experience it! The dance competitions included young and old, experienced and less experienced dancers. I couldn’t believe how well people did in the heat, wearing all kinds of heavy and thick clothing and dancing under the hot sun… But they did, and many of them were incredibly talented, the dances quite intricate.
There were many vendors of all sorts of stuff, jewellery, crafts, etc., which was fun to browse through. It was also great to try the local food. I got to try « fry bread » and learned that Indian Tacos (basically fry bread with salsa, sour cream etc.) are actually a typical and very popular local fast food dish!
I highly recommend this experience! We even managed to squeeze in a quick swim to cool off. Thanks to everyone who came, and to the driver(s) who made things logistically easier, though there is a special bus from Angrignon metro.
