Pow Wowza

I just got home from the Hobbema reserve and holy moly it was neato! In the center of the room there was a HUGE pile of food. Everyone was instructed to bring a container and fork to eat, and a bag for all the extra food so nothing went to eat. Three elders, and 10 or so servers sat in a circle around the food. A peace pipe was lit and passed clockwise around the circle. everyone had a puff and smudged. The food was passed out (always clockwise, starting from the east) untill all was gone. once it was blessed everyone began to eat. Once the food was gone a group of 10 sat in the middle of the room and sang and played drums. this lasted for about a minute, and after a minutes break they would start again. Everytime the music started a dance circle would form.

We were told that often a powwow goes on untill early the next morning.