WINNIPEG — The Manito Ahbee Festival has kicked off, celebrating Indigenous cultures in Canada and across North America.
The festival included a Lighting of the Sacred Fire at the Oodena Circle at The Forks on Thursday and a music conference leading into the weekend. Events have been planned throughout the weekend including a marketplace and trade show, youth education day as well as an art expo.
Manito Ahbee is also home to Canada’s largest pow wow, as over 800 dancers and drum groups will be competing at the RBC Convention Centre. According to the festival website, Manito Ahbee was given to the festival through ceremony.
“Manito Ahbee, an Ojibway word means ‘where the Creator sits,” the site added, along with calling Winnipeg “one of the most important and significant traditional Aboriginal gathering sites in all of Turtle Island (North America).”
The grand entries for the pow wows begin at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Saturday. The finale will take place on Sunday at 1 p.m.
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