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Archiver > Melungeon > 2001-02 > 0981086280


From: Mike & Lindsey Matherne <>
Subject: Re: [Melungeon] Blanket dances
Date: Thu, 01 Feb 2001 21:58:00 -0600
References: <20010201173937.17241.qmail@web4705.mail.yahoo.com>


At every Pow Wow here there are blanket dances. People who need help ask
the Head Man and Head Dancers if they may request a Blanket Dance. A
Blanket Dance is announced and the people who asked for it, or
representatives stand in the dance ring and a blanket is spread out on
the ground before them. EVERYBODY can dance a blanket dance. When you
enter the ring, you place paper money, usually a dollar, a five dollar,
or ten dollar bill, whatever you can afford, on the blanket before you
start to dance. The dance is a way of giving help and giving honor, both
to the dancers and the people who need help. It shows they lose no face
or honor in asking for help from their brothers and sisters. In fact,
their brothers and sister honor their courage in the face of a hard
time. Sometimes there is no need for a Blanket Dance, sometimes there
are as many as five or six at one Pow Wow.

Everybody stocks up on dollar bills here before they hit a Pow Wow.
Sometimes a Blanket Dance is held to benefit the tribe or organization
sponsoring the Pow Wow to defray the costs entailed in holding the Pow
Wow, i.e. rental, if any, of the spot to hold it, rental of tents and
tables for vendors if there are any, and so on. Also a Blanket Dance is
generally held for each Drum that attends the Pow Wow to help defray
their costs of travelling to the Pow Wow. Raffles of Pendleton blankets,
crafts, outgrown children's dance garb (which is usually in good shape,
they grow so fast), and other things also go on. At the Pow Wow we
attended in Cody, Wyoming, someone got a $500 Pendleton Blanket ladies
coat at the raffle. Someone had donated the coat, and the tribe only
made $250 off the raffle.

Lindsey

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