Oglala Lakota Nation Pow Wow Photos -- National Geographic

Pow Wow Parade
Photograph by Andrew Owen, American Festivals Project
A must-stop for the American Festivals Project in 2009 was the Oglala Lakota Nation Pow Wow, which takes place every year on the Pine Ridge Reservation outside Badlands National Park in South Dakota. Both ceremonial and competitive, the pow wow is a celebration of Native American culture and a stop for dancers and drum troupes traveling the pow wow circuit.
Here, a young couple on a motorcycle gets a tow from a truck driving in the pow wow parade.
Read more about the Oglala Lakota Nation Pow Wow on the American Festivals Project blog.
Pow Wow Dancers
Photograph by Andrew Owen, American Festivals Project
Fans made of feathers provide shade for three female dancers before the opening ceremony of the pow wow. The colorful dresses are fringed with hollow cylinders of aluminum that jingle in time with the cadence of the dance.
Pow Wow Dancer
Photograph by Andrew Owen, American Festivals Project
A first-time competitor on the pow wow circuit poses for a portrait inside the hospitality tent. He traveled from Greensboro, North Carolina, to begin his circuit tour in Pine Ridge.
Young Dancer
Photograph by Andrew Owen, American Festivals Project
Floodlights illuminating the competition arena form a halo around a young dancer on the last night of the pow wow.
Dancers and Drummers
Photograph by Ross McDermott, American Festivals Project
Pow wows are equal parts dancing and drumming. Both drum groups and dancers travel from competition to competition to earn prize money. It is the dancers’ responsibility to listen to the drumming and adjust their dance to its cadences and rhythms.
Dance Preparation
Photograph by Ross McDermott, American Festivals Project
Buck Spotted Tail gets dressed in his car before going into the arena for the opening ceremony. The son of Chief Spotted Tail, he and his cousins spend more than half the year traveling the pow wow circuit to compete for prize money. In his style of dancing, he says, he tries to imitate the “movement of the grass.”
Cultural Contrasts
Photograph by Ross McDermott, American Festivals Project
The Pine Ridge pow wow is the biggest weekend of the year on the reservation and is an important aspect of preserving and honoring native traditions. But not everyone wears traditional dress, underscoring the prevalence of contemporary culture—including popular fashion trends—in day-to-day life.
Pow Wow Portrait
Photograph by Andrew Owen and Ross McDermott, American Festivals Project
A man who had just won first place in a competition obscures his face with a large feather, explaining that it is native tradition to do so when breathing heavily.
Pow Wow Dancer
Photograph by Ross McDermott, American Festivals Project
Dancers as young as five and six participate in the competition, sometimes adding modern touches—such as this sports mascot—to their traditional dress.
Bareback Horse Race
Photograph by Andrew Owen, American Festivals Project
Horse racing is one of the pow wow weekend’s most harrowing events. A gravel road serves as a makeshift racetrack for bareback riders competing for prize money, sometimes pushing the limits of safety.
Pow Wow Portrait
Photograph by Andrew Owen and Ross McDermott, American Festivals Project
Reluctant at first to stand for a portrait, a young competitor peeks out from behind the feathers of his headdress.
Native Heritage
Photograph by Ross McDermott, American Festivals Project
Respect for elders is an integral aspect of native culture. In a “sweat,” for instance, the heated rocks in the center of the ceremony are called the "grandfathers" and are treated with great care.
Pow Wow Portrait
Photograph by Andrew Owen and Ross McDermott, American Festivals Project
A woman poses in a dress adorned with bells. Before the bells were mass produced, they were made from the metal and steel tops on food cans and chewing tobacco.