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Imagine this, you’re surrounded in a room with loud chanting and drums filling your ears as it echoes off the walls. You feel the breeze on your face as Native Americans dance past you. You see them dressed in different traditional garments with bright colored tassels or hawk feathers. You see their faces covered in painted designs and feathers in their hair. What you’re imagining right now is called a “pow wow.”
Native American families and tribes travel all across the country to pow wows to celebrate their ancestral histories with singing, dancing and more.
Mountain Home Air Force Base was invited to a pow wow by the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation in honor of Veterans Day. Col. Ernesto DiVittorio, 366th Fighter Wing commander, and Chief Master Sgt. Cedric Foster, 366th FW command chief, attended this event and invited to dance during the Grand Entry. This was the first open pow wow since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The beginning of a pow wow starts with the “Grand Entry.” Everyone is asked to stand as an elder leads the parade of dancers from the east of the arena. Drums beat as the dancers join together in the opening dance. The Grand Entry is considered sacred; therefore, photography is not allowed. Once the entry is over, the pow wow continues with dancing contests for children and adults.
“Col. DiVittorio and myself attended the pow wow and as we are always reminded in the military to embrace your community, we were able to do just that,” Foster said. “They had many loved ones from their own families who are serving and have served. It was an experience I will never forget.”
There are several Federally Recognized Tribes in Idaho, Oregon, Nevada and Utah that the base works with in conducting our mission. Each of these sovereign nations have historical ties surrounding our military operating area, the base itself, and land between both. The Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation are the closest to the base.
Over the years, Mountain Home AFB leadership has developed a relationship with elected Tribal leadership. We have been fortunate for the past two decades to be invited to attend and participate in their annual Veteran's Day pow wow.
The citizens of the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes are very proud of their military service and honor all Veterans in attendance during the Grand Entry. It continues to be one of the highlights of a wing commander’s visits to the Reservation as the pow wow displays cultural traditions of these two important Tribes.
“We thank you all at the 366th Fighter Wing and all the past and present military servicemen and women for defending our nation and our freedom,” said Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation.
Story was originally posted to the DVIDSHUB.net website on Dec. 14, 2022 and may be found at https://www.dvidshub.net/news/435189/duck-valley-indian-reservation-pow-wow
| Date Taken: | 12.14.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 12.14.2022 14:26 |
| Story ID: | 435189 |
| Location: | DUCK VALLEY INDIAN RESERVATION, NEVADA, US |
| Web Views: | 147 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Duck Valley Indian Reservation Pow Wow, by SrA Krista Reed Choate, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
