For the 29th year, the Mohawk nation of Kahnawake is holding its annual pow wow on the South Shore, a First Nations festival that combines traditional dance and crafts with outdoor food drink.
“It brings people together,” said Dina Filippelli. “We welcome everybody here.”
Some on the first day of the event came from afar. Logan Lewis is Mi’kmaq, hailing from Prince Edward Island, and made the trek to dance the grass dance. Paul Battaglia drove up from New Paltz, New York to see the Kahnawake Pow-Wow.
“It’s something I’ve always been brought up in, something I love to do,” Battaglia said.
The event acts as a gateway to Indigenous culture, and much of it involves competitive dancing for cash prizes.
“We’re storytellers when we dance,” said John McComber, a former Kahnawake peacekeeper. “If you watch a traditional dancer when he dances, he tells a story.
The two-day event continues Sunday.
WATCH: (May 10, 2017) Kahnawake’s Raven Swamp claims Miss Indian World
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