Join ISN ERG at Sycuan Pow Wow

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Our Indigenous Sovereign Nations ERG invites employees, family and friends to attend the annual Sycuan Pow Wow Sept. 9-11. The event at Sycuan, 5577 Dehesa Road, El Cajon is free.

Hours are:

  • 8 to 10 p.m. – Friday

  • 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.– Saturday

  • 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. – Sunday

INS ERG provided this background on Pow Wows:

Originally a Pow Wow or "celebration" as it was once called, was held in the spring to welcome the beginnings of life. It was a time for people to get together, sing, dance, renew old friendships and make new ones, and a time for young people to meet and court.

The Pow Wow had religious significance as well. It was a time for families to hold naming and honoring ceremonies. The celebration was also a prayer to the one called Wakan Tanka–the Great Mystery or Great Spirit in Lakota. Some trace the word "Pow-Wow" to the Algonquin language.

The circle is an important symbol to Indigenous cultures. At a Pow Wow, the dancers are in the center of the circle and the audience forms a larger circle around them. The Pow Wow brings the circle of the people closer together to their community and their culture. Pow Wows today are still very much a part of the lives of modern Indigenous people.

Most religious ceremonies are no longer a central part of the Pow Wow and often are conducted in the privacy of a family gathering. However, blessing ceremonies, honoring ceremonies and ceremonies for dropped eagle feathers remain today. Competitive singing and dancing for prize money is a recent change in the traditional Pow Wow celebration. Only registered contestants can participate in the dancing contests, but everyone can take part when an "intertribal" dance is announced– visitors included, as each of us shares a place in the circle. There are no spectators at a Pow Wow. Everyone is a participant!

See the flyer below.

Sycuan Pow Wow flyer