Best of Native Traditions

Powwow (Fort Hall, ID)

August 10, 2001. (Photo: Kate Holbrook)

Powwow (Fort Hall, ID)

August 10, 2001. (Photo: Kate Holbrook)

Native American Leaders at the 1993 Parliament of the World's Religions (Chicago, IL)

Anishinaabe Elder Wearing Jingle Dress at a Powwow (Pine Point, MN)

Larry Cloud Morgan at the Pine Point Minnesota powwow with Josephine Degroat, Anishinaabe elder, who is wearing a jingle dress made of 365 hand-fashioned cones, circa 1993

Wild Rice Harvesting (Lac Court Oreilles, WI)

Alice White Cadotte harvests rice at Lac Court Oreilles by cradling stalks with one stick and flailing them with another (Photo: Courtesy of Milwaukee Public Museum)

Ganns Performing a Dance after the Sunrise Dance Ceremony (White River, AZ)

The Ganns (Crown Dancers) represent deer and are believed to have supernatural powers; they dance the night after the Sunrise Dance ceremony, here held in White River, Arizona. (Photo: Courtesy of Ernestine Begay)

Three Generations Watch a Ceremony (White River, AZ)

Grandmother and great-grandmother watch the ceremony in White River, Arizona (Photo: Courtesy of Ernestine Begay)

Leaders of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (Mashpee, MA)

John Peters, Wampanoag medicine man, and Ellsworth Oakley, supreme sachem. Sachem is a term derived from similar terms used by Algonquian-speaking nations to refer to the elected head or chief of a number of tribes. (Photo by: John Madama, Courtesy of Russell Peters)

Dighton Intertribal Powwow (Dighton, MA)

The traditional meets the contemporary at the Dighton Intertribal Powwow in Massachusetts pluralism.org

Native Americans Discuss Racism (White Eagle, OK)

Native Americans in White Eagle, Oklahoma discuss issues of racism with an international ecumenical team of Christians from the World Council of Churches, circa 1995 (Photo by: Peter Williams, courtesy of World Council of Churches)

Native American Church (Lame Deer, MT)

View toward the heavens, from a Native American Church peyote tipi in Lame Deer, Montana, after a night of prayer for US soldiers in Vietnam. pluralism.org

Drumming at the Feast of the Dead (Washington, D.C.)

Singing and drumming at the Feast of the Dead at the Piscataway Indian Nation near Washington, DC (Photo: Courtesy of Piscataway Indian Nation) pluralism.org

Members of a Native American Nation in the Pacific Northwest

These members of a Native American nation in the Pacific Northwest are marching with drums and red and blue button blankets embroidered with buttons and generally used for ceremonies.

Narragansett Tribe's Annual Powwow (Rhode Island)

Narragansett Tribe members dance an intertribal dance at their 327th Annual Powwow, August 11, 2002. Their Chief Sachem, Matthew Seventh Hawk Thomas, dances in the inner circle near the fire pit. The fire was lit by Medicine Man Lloyd G. Running Wolf Wilcox. (Photo: Gregory McGonigle/The Pluralism Project)

Encounter in the Courts (Mt. Shasta, CA)

The land surrounding Mt. Shasta is considered sacred by the Yurok, Karok, and Talowa tribes; in the Lyng Decision, the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Forest Service decision to build a logging road through this land. (Photo by: Flickr user webmink).

Dancing at the Order of the Preservation of Indian Culture Pow Wow (Boston, MA)

Participants in traditional attire celebrate with tribal dancing at the Order of the Preservation of Indian Culture Pow Wow in Canton, MA. pluralism.org

Dancing at the Order of the Preservation of Indian Culture Pow Wow (Boston, MA)

Participants in traditional attire celebrate with tribal dancing at the Order of the Preservation of Indian Culture Pow Wow in Canton, MA. pluralism.org

Dia De Los Muertos (Los Angeles, CA)

A drummer accompanies dancers honoring the dead during a Dia De Los Muertos event at Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles on November 3, 2012. (Photo: Kinan Al Shaghouri/The Pluralism Project)

Altar (Oklahoma City, OK)

The altar during the Act of Repentance service which took place at the Council of Bishops meeting in November 2014. (Photo: Ginny Underwood/The Pluralism Project)

Communion (Oklahoma City, OK)

Rev. Chebon Kernell, Director of the Native American Ministries Office of the United Methodist Church, prepares grape dumplings as communion elements during the Act of Repentance service which took place at the Council of Bishops meeting in November 2014. (Photo: Ginny Underwood/The Pluralism Project)