Day 12, Visiting Curve Lake annual Pow Wow
Saturday, September 21, 2019
Today we went to the Pow Wow at Curve Lake. This Pow Wow is a meeting
of the Anishnaabe people of the Great Ojibwe Nation and other native
people.
Yesterday, at the Whetung Ojibwa Centre, we asked directions for the
Pow Wow and they told us to park the car near the church and walk to
the Pow Wow. It started at noon so they advised us to be there around
eleven o'clock to find a free parking place.
I got out of bed at eight and enjoyed the nice weather and the view
at the forest on our balcony before we went to the dining room for
breakfast.
At nine in the morning, we had a very good breakfast at
Woodhaven Country Lodge before we got in our rental car and went to
The Pow Wow at Curve Lake.
The treees are beautiful in autumn
Curve lake is an 'First nation' area and they have their own police
force. I had read somewhere that it is very important not to drive
to fast on these roads.
Curve Lake
We found a good parking place behind the church and walked to the
Pow Wow and bought our tickets, $8 each. We got a ride on a golf cart
from the ticket sales stand to the place where it all happened. That
saved us a long walk.
Ticket sales at the Pow Wow
The dances had not start yet because we were rather early so there
was time to check out the market stalls. They sold all kind of
First Nation things like jewelery, clothing, knifes, food,
traditional medicines and more.
I bought a nice T-shirt before the dancing begun.
Market stalls
In the center of the field was a covered area where the drummers and
singers were. They could sit in the shadow while they were drumming
and singing.
Drummers and singers
The grand opening with all chiefs, elders and dancing and singing
groups is sacred. Photography is not allowed and everybody had to
stand up and men had to remove there hats.
When the sacred part was over, we could sit down and take pictures
again. There were all kinds of dancing groups and it was all very
colorful.
Dancing at the Pow Wow
After a few dances, the speaker asked all people who are supporters
of the First nation people to shout and clap their hands. We did it
too. Then he asked all supporters to come to dance together so I got
up and danced with a whole group of people.
The speaker told it was the biggest group dance in the 66 times this
Pow Wow was here.
Dancing in a big group
After the big group dance, more traditional dances followed. It was
very interesting and nice to look at, but dancing with the group was
the nicest part so far.
Dancing in beautiful traditional custumes
There was a family of the Anishnaabe people who live in New Zealand
and they came here for the Pow Wow. After they were introduced, the
speaker asked all people who had come from outside Canada to come
forward and participate in a dance
Anneke and I joined the group and danced with people from all
over the world.
The family from New Zealand
When the dance with the guests was finished, the man who talked
to us in Bobcaygeon, who's parents came from Voorburg, came to
greet us. He was surprised to see us here.
After watching some more dancing, we walked to the market stalls
and Anneke and I both bought a nice T-shirt.
Shopping
One more time we went to the dance circle to watch the dancing
for a while, before we decided it was time to go back to the hotel.
Some more dances
We walked along the market stalls and looked at the beautiful
handmade art that was for sale. We also bought a very nice
postcard from , RedGeorge, the artist who had painted the
original of the card.
Red George with the postcard
It was a very hot day. The weather forcast this morning was 27
degrees Celcius so it was very good that the organisers of the
Pow Wow had arranged a big water truck where everybody could fill
their water bottles with fresh water.
Water truck
Their was a long line of people waiting for a ride wioth the golf
cart back to the ticket stall so we decided not to wait but to walk.
On the way to our car, we saw a field with parked motorcycles, all
Harley Davidsons, except for one Indian motorcycle.
Only a part of all the Harleys in the field
After a healthy walk, we arrived at the parking behind the church and
got into the car to ride back via Buckhorn.
In Buckhorn, we did some shopping at Foodland. We needed some
bottles with water and cookies for our ride to Toronto tomorrow.
Foodland in Buckhorn
In the shop I saw plastic bags with four liter milk !
Four liter milk bags
Past the beautiful lake, we drove back to Woodhaven Country Lodge.
Beautiful lake
In the evening we had a dinner with salmon, mais, various salads and
a good glass of whine, and apple pie with ice cream as dessert. A perfect
end of a perfect day.
We are so lucky with the weather. Almost everytime we go somewhere,
the weather is perfect.
Tomorrow we drive back to the hotel in Mississauga where our trip
started about two weeks ago. On Monday we will leave Canada on our
flight with Air Canada to the Netherlands.
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