Dispelling stereotypes We asked Lonny about the dancers’ apparel. “They are not costumes,” he emphasized. “Our regalia is symbolic. For example, the colours of my ceremonial dress represent the six primary directions, including straight up and straight down.” “Face painting is another stereotype that Hollywood has plagued us with for generations,” he stated. “It is not war paint. It’s a spiritual protection given to us by our fathers and grandfathers, just as Christians wear crosses,” he claimed. “They paint the design on us the first time, during a ceremony, then we paint ourselves in the same fashion afterwards, for protection.” Suddenly, the full impact of the festival became apparent to us. Red Earth is about understanding Indigenous Peoples – not so much our differences but, rather, our similarities. Hundreds of moccasins pound the floor in time to the drum Together, we observed the disciplined, graceful movements of the ladies’ traditional buckskin dance; the flowing fringes and ribbons on the dresses of the grass dancers – reminiscent of the windblown prairies; the frenzied movements of the men’s fancy war dance; and the musical clinking of the metallic tube fringes on the jingle dancers’ dresses. Some dancers imitated eagles. Others wore headdresses topped with one or two feathers mounted in rockers, which moved back and forth with the motion of their heads to the drumbeats. Youngsters – garbed in feather headdresses and clothing adorned with geometric beadwork – waved feather fans. They learned the dance movements by watching them from their parents’ arms and dancing side by side with the adults. CSANews | SUMMER 2024 | 15 Travel
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