ANCIENT TRADITION : VASQUEZ ROCKS PARK HOSTS 1ST POWWOW.Byline: Bhavna Mistry Daily News Staff Writer Continuing a tradition their ancestors started centuries ago, American Indian American Indian or Native American or Amerindian or indigenous American Any member of the various aboriginal peoples of the Western Hemisphere, with the exception of the Eskimos (Inuit) and the Aleuts. drummers and dancers gathered at Vasquez Rocks Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park is a 905 acre (3 km²) northern Los Angeles County, California USA park acquired by LA County government in the 1970s. It is in the Agua Dulce vicinity between the Antelope Valley and the Santa Clarita Valley just north of Los Angeles and seen easily on Saturday to participate in an old-time powwow powwow American Indian ceremony or gathering of various kinds. Powwows originally were healing ceremonies, but the word could also refer to exuberant celebrations, with dancing and singing, of success in hunting or victory in battle. . An estimated 1,000 visitors from throughout the region descended upon Vasquez Rocks County Park at Escondido Canyon Road and Agua Dulce Agua Dulce is Spanish for "sweet water". It also refers to various locations: In Mexico:
``It's an intertribal in·ter·tri·bal adj. Existing or occurring between tribes. Adj. 1. intertribal - between or among tribes; "intertribal warfare" gathering of the people,'' said Brad Two Bears, an Echota Cherokee who helped coordinate the event. ``(It's) the first time in 200 years that it's been held here.'' Proceeds from the event, which is hosted by the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County Department of Recreation and Parks, benefit American Indian children and help send them to summer camp. ``This is the first time the event has been held here,'' said Two Bears, powwow coordinator. ``But hopefully we'll be back next year. Hopefully this will be an annual event. People are having an awesome time.'' The powwow will continue today from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Kelly Cara, 37, of Palmdale came to the powwow with eight family members and friends. ``I love to watch the dancing,'' she said. ``This is a perfect setting for something like this. You can see the Indians riding through on their horses.'' Cara said she got to meet a shaman. ``I asked him about the different tribes and about the costumes. He told how important it is for the feathers to be upright to show pride. A drooping droop v. drooped, droop·ing, droops v.intr. 1. To bend or hang downward: "His mouth drooped sadly, pulled down, no doubt, by the plump weight of his jowls" feather is like a drooping flag.'' Robert Salazar, a 66-year-old Chumash Indian from Saugus, said he came to watch family members dance. Salazar is a regular at powwows. This was the second powwow he's attended this year and has many planned for this summer. ``It's a time of getting together,'' Salazar said. ``It's very traditional, especially here, because you know your ancestors were here.'' Two Bears said Vasquez Rocks was inhabited by American Indians American Indians: see Americas, antiquity and prehistory of the; Natives, Middle American; Natives, North American; Natives, South American. some 9,000 years ago. CAPTION(S): 3 Photos Photo: (1--color) The intense heat of a ritual fire crea tes a dreamlike effect for visitors to the intertribal gathering at Vasquez Rocks County Park, which continues today. (2) Jim Gibbs untangles Joyce Avery's hair from a handmade beaded necklace at Saturday's powwow. (3) Navy Lt. T. North Star throws a tobacco offering into a ritual fire as a gesture of respect. Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News |
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