Kicking off the 20th annual Pow Wow, the De Anza Pow Wow Committee demonstrated the Native American celebration of life, May 5, 6, 7 at the football field, known by the committee as the Outdoor Events Arena.

Previously, the committee held the Pow Wow in the quad.

“It was just getting too small in the area in the quad as the Pow Wow continued to grow,” said De Anza College American Indian Studies Department Chair and Pow Wow committee chair, Gerri Parker, “After we are in the new area a few years, I’m sure it will go smoothly.”

“A Pow Wow is a time when I can take my white hat off and be myself,” says Parker.

Pow Wows are a way for the Native American community to come together in celebrating culture, joining in dancing, singing, visiting, and renewing old friendships and making new ones. “It’s a way for them to be American Indian in the modern world,” Parker says.

In doing so, there are traditions which are part of this coming together.

According to Parker, Pow Wows began as a result of the 1960s show, “Wild Wild West”. Tribes saw how the government outlawed traditional religious ceremonies. They realized that they could have agricultural fairs where Native Americans began dancing and singing.

Some say that before each dance they were lead through the town in a parade, which was the beginning of the Grand Entry.

The Pow Wow begins with the Grand Entry. This is the entry of all the people entering the arena. During this, everyone is asked to stand as the flags are brought into the arena. The flags carried included the US flag, California flag, POW MIA (Prisoners in War Missing in Action) flag, and an eagle staff. These are usually carried by veterans, Parker said.

Following the veterans are other important guests of the Pow Wow including Princesses, elders, and Pow Wow organizers.

Parker says that Princesses are young women who have made special contributions, which is represented by the crown they wear. “Their crown is not a symbol of royalty,” Parker said.

Once everyone is in the arena, the song ends and another one begins that honors the flag and the veterans.

After a prayer, the dancing resumes usually with a few Round Dances. After the Round Dances, intertribal dancing songs are sung and everyone dances to the beat of a drum.

Dancers have always been a very important part of the life of the Native American, according to Parker. The outfits worn by the dancers, like the styles of clothing evolve over time, it is not a stagnant culture, but a vibrant and changing way of life.

Dancers often follow the clockwise path of the sun. Some of the regalia and ornaments signify special events in a person’s life, religious tradition or legends from the past, according to Audon Meldonado, Pow Wow helper and fiction editor of “Red Wheelbarrow”, De Anza’s literary magazine.

Many dances are done in a circle, which represents the circle of unity, the circle of life.

“Everything in nature comes in a circle,” Parker says.