Over 2,000 people made their way to Round the Bend Farm on Saturday, Sept. 17 for a “Wampanoag Experience Powwow” meant to celebrate the native culture of the area and commemorate the completion of a wetu — a traditional native home — on the farm’s property.
The powwow, which was led by Mashpee Wampanoag member Annawon Weeden, included traditional singing, dancing, and drumming — as well as tours of the wetu, an all-day native cooking demonstration, archery, native games and storytelling, and much more.
Around the grounds, vendors set up booths to sell native jewelry and handmade products, often using traditional techniques and materials. Nearby at the main house, Round the Bend staff members served up native foods on reusable dishes.
Weeden said the point of the Wampanoag Experience was to introduce people to the depth of native culture through hands-on participation, rather than just watching from the sidelines.
“If you’ve ever ridden a bike, it’s an experience and you don’t forget it,” he said, explaining that the idea behind the powwow was to create a similar encounter with native culture — a lived experience that would go deeper, and last longer, than a simple presentation.
Weeden said he worried that even the singing and dancing, while an integral part of a powwow, would overshadow other aspects of the event, leaving visitors with a shallow understanding of the culture focused more on the spectacle than the meaning behind it.
“Unfortunately, we’re still classified as entertainment,” he said. “There’s so much more to native culture than song and dance.”
He said he hoped that instead people would take the time to try out some of the activities themselves to experience first-hand what they were like.
“That’s my job, giving people ways to embrace my culture,” he said.
Round the Bend Executive Director Desa Van Laarhoven agreed.
“My goal is always to have an event where people have ah-hah moments,” she said. “I definitely think it hit there.”
Weeden said that the wetu came together very quickly thanks to the help of many volunteers, which he estimated to have numbered over a hundred on one occasion.
“I’ve never peeled trees that fast,” he said. “A lot of people were involved in making that home.”
And if organizers were pleased with the turnout for the wetu building, they were even more excited about the number of people that showed up for the powwow itself.
“All of us were impressed,” said Weeden. “The numbers alone doubled what any of us expected.”
He added that he is “hoping to do it again and hoping to do it even bigger.”
By Morgan Beard
reporter@dartmouthweek.net
