excerpt from CHEROKEE DIARY (see Aug. 31, 2010)
Summer of 1993 - When living in Gainesville, Florida I attended a community pow wow as opposed to a public pow wow. I think it was a blessing that it was my first pow wow. It gave me a deeper appreciation of the spiritual nature of Indians that isn't as apparent in the public pow wows. My reaction to the drums and round dancing resonated internally. It felt like a part of me. My daughter who had a passion for dancing turned to me and said "this is where my love of dancing comes from. I feel it inside."
The speaker at the mike advised the audience that this was not a performance but a community prayer pow wow and if we could participate in that spirit we were welcome, otherwise we could leave quietly. That intrigued me but the thing that affected me the most was one of the round dances. The speaker announced that the next dance would be a prayer dance for healing requested by a young boy who looked to be about 8 years old. He said his grandmother was sick and he wanted to dance the first round by himself as a prayer for her and then anyone who wanted to dance for healing could join in the rest of the round dance. The boy seemed totally unaware of the people watching him as he very reverently danced completely around the circle by himself. His whole body seemed involved in this very spiritual experience expressed in the physical action of the dance.
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