I'll Dance With My People

June 25, 2018 3:42 PM

It's a Sacred Healing Dance. "Gayle Pruden said she dances because she was called to dance. After having a reoccurring dream of herself in a shiny dress, she approached an elder for answers to her dreams. The elder told her that the Creator was calling her to dance powwow. It was after those dreams that Gayle was danced into her first powwow."

8 Things You Should Know About Two Spirit People: Two Spirit Does Not Indicate Colonized Boxed Definitions of “L”, “G”, “B”, “T” or “Q”
Read the Two Spirit Journal
If you're not Native, the term Two Spirit isn't for you.

posted by Anonymous (9 comments total)

There's also the term Indigiqueer. Here's a previously on two spirit people.
posted by Ashwagandha at 4:27 PM on June 25, 2018

Two Spirit (and the tribe-specific terms that it encompasses) is a beautiful example of how non-conforming individuals have existed and have had a place in societies since time immemorial. The fear and hate these people endure is a modern invention that makes the world a worse place for everyone.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 4:27 PM on June 25, 2018 [6 favorites]

Our tribe's powwow could use a stiff dose of this sort of awesome. Thanks for the post. Also the offer stands to get any mefites that happen to be near there at the right time in on an extra wristband or two.
posted by RolandOfEld at 4:42 PM on June 25, 2018 [5 favorites]

After having a reoccurring dream of herself in a shiny dress, she approached an elder for answers to her dreams. The elder told her that the Creator was calling her to dance powwow.

See also: Origin of jingle dress
posted by Sys Rq at 4:49 PM on June 25, 2018 [2 favorites]

For a brief period I tried to use the term for myself. If you consider just the words themselves, outside of the cultural context, it was an incredibly close fit for the way I thought of myself when I was a teen.

Aaaaand you really can't do that. The cultural context is key. It's like trying to hang onto the phrase "Purple Heart" to describe something that isn't the military order. Grasping that is when I finally understood what the big deal is with cultural appropriation.

(Later on I realized I wasn't really two of anything, but there's still nothing more specific than "non-binary" that seems to fit.)
posted by Foosnark at 6:01 PM on June 25, 2018 [4 favorites]

Do remember that the term pow wow is somewhat geographically oriented. In dance class in the pacific northwest I had a native american friend (gay, I'm not) and we talked about his family dance a bit, he never used the term powwow ever. I tried to get him to show me his family dance (his term) but he insisted that it was boring "just chasse's" (basically a sliding step). This is quite a while ago so gender topics while not an issue or deeply hidden in that environment really were not out in the open or discussed at all. Really nice guy, wish I'd managed to keep in touch.
posted by sammyo at 7:36 PM on June 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

That is beautiful and uplifting, thank you!
posted by eggkeeper at 8:00 PM on June 25, 2018

Hell Yes
posted by nixon's meatloaf at 10:23 PM on June 25, 2018

More positivity for me today. Thanks!
posted by nogoodverybad at 7:27 AM on June 26, 2018