We're very lucky.
Jack is the sort of child
we all assume we'll have
when we decide to have children,
and the sort of child
less experienced parents
congratulate themselves for.January and February 2004
March and April 2004
May and June 2004
July and August 2004
September and October 2004
November and December 2004
Blogs we read:
Sunday, Apr. 03, 2005 - (Mamma)
Dance for Mother Earth
The annual Ann Arbor powwow was held yesterday. (A powwow is a Native American secular event which is often open to the general public and that features group singing, social dancing, and dancing comptetitions by men, women, and children.) The theme of this year's dance was "Dance for Mother Earth".
Rod has wanted to attend since he first got here, but what with one thing and another, we had never managed to make it.
This year, though, Jack was ready to appreciate the powwow, too, and both Rod and I were eager to share it with him.
Our first attempt was ill-fated, as Jack feel asleep after breakfast, moments before we were to leave. I stayed home with the slumbering boy and Rod went on his own; he had a wonderful time and came home with renewed determination to share this event with Jack.
When we finally arrived, near 7:30pm, things were in full swing for the second session of the day.
Drums stirred the air and singers voices rose, almost eerily, from everywhere. Dancers were in the circle, performing an Honour Dance in honour of the passing of the name of the deceased son of one of the elders.
The energy of the event was intense. The pageantry of all the traditional regalia and the immense dignity and pride of the people wearing it was moving.
Jack was mesmerized.
He sat like that for almost an hour--spellbound by the driving rythm, the fluid, graceful movement, the bright colours. He eventually allowed himself to be distracted by dancers walking past him in their brightly coloured regalia between dances and once his eyes were wandering again, he noticed the children playing around the edge of the circle.
Very late in the evening, he got down to join in the play of some slightly older boys playing with a car, not far from where we were standing.
Quite late in the evening, an Inter-Tribal Dance was announced. During an Inter-Tribal dance, everyone is attendance is invited into the circle to dance -- and it didn't take Jack long to drag us onto the floor. I went first, and for the second dance, Jack wanted to dance with Dad!
Whe it was finally time to go home, Jack was exhausted and extremely sad to see the evening end. Fortunately, we had bought a CD of our favorite Drum and so we played it on the way home, which was evidently sufficient "compensation". Once the music started, he was calm.
It was a good evening.
