Return of the Native

For centuries, Native American tribes partook in celebrations combining the sacred and secular.

The primary purpose may have been giving thanks to the creator or honoring someone's accomplishments, but the gatherings also gave tribes a chance to gather, eat and celebrate their own version of the Good Life.

Today, non-Native people can join in the fun and learn something about Indian traditions through powwows held at fairgrounds and city parks and on reservations throughout the country.

Powwows are sponsored by tribes, schools, museums, Indian casinos and other organizations, with the goals of strengthening social connections, dispelling stereotypes, fostering understanding of Indian culture and tradition and, of course, having a good time.

Irene Cornell, who first went to powwows as a child in Oklahoma, says word-of-mouth was once the only way to hear about such events.

Directions were usually vague, along the lines of "turn on the dirt road a little ways past the field where the sunflowers used to be." She and her aunt would drive the country roads, looking for cars full of Native Americans that they could follow to the festivities. ...