As we Bodéwadmin relatives travel and gather, in Shawnee or by word of our “talking paper” the Hownikan, our personal medicine wheels are broadened and gladdened. Our minds, hearts, bodies and spirits come forward to sit in a circle to learn, have some fun and dance.
We look up into the summer night sky and remember our Anishnabé Creation Story which tells us many stories of our relations, the Star Beings. Our Creation Story tells us of how our ancestors, the first people, were “lowered down” as the star people or hot rocks. That is why some of us learn this story by the ceremony of the sweat lodge. This is also a place where we can go into the lodge, sit with the Creator, pray, be purified and renewed as we sit and remember who we are and from whence we came. AHO!
Between taking classes at the Cultural Heritage Center and savoring some fry bread, don’t forget to take part in some of this year’s competitions at the Family Reunion Festival. Whether you’re athletically inclined, a creative, or just love a chance to engage with a team, there are plenty of things to choose from.
Art competitions
Each year at Festival, Tribal members of all ages and experience levels have the opportunity to enter the art contest.
This year, there have been a couple changes to the number of entries per person in the amateur adult category and the pickup time of entries at the end of the contest.
Tribal members aged 16 and older can enter one piece into either the amateur or the professional categories of the adult art contest. (Professional is for artists who have been paid for the type of work they enter. The amateur category is for those who have never been paid to create the type of art they enter.)
Submissions can include all types of modern and traditional art, and the art does not have to include Indigenous themes.
For professional artists, first place is $300, and the winner will be selected by a vote of Festival attendees taken in the foyer of FireLake Arena.
Amateur artists can enter one piece of art into either the photography/painting category or the category for other mediums. Winners of the amateur art contest will be selected by a professional artist, and prizes are $300 for first, $200 for second and $100 for third place.
Registration for the adult art contest is from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at FireLake Arena. All entries must be the work of the artist without any assistance. Prize winners will be announced during General Council, where the prize money will be awarded.
All entries for the adult art contest must be picked up by 3 p.m. After that time, the art will be left unattended.
For those age 15 and younger, there are art contests available for four ages groups: age 5 and younger, ages 6-9, ages 10-12 and ages 13-15.
Each participant may enter one piece of art, and art can be submitted between 9 and 9:30 a.m. Saturday at the South Reunion Hall. All pieces must have been created before Festival but within the past three years.
First, second and third place winners will receive a gift card.
Hand games
Hand games is a traditional Potawatomi competition that goes back generations, and each Family Reunion Festival, teams compete on Friday night at the pavilion.
All you need to compete is a team of seven people. Two hiders from one team each hold a colored bead in their hands, which they pass back and forth behind their backs. The other team’s picker attempts to guess where the beads are. The hiders must stay in the circles painted on the ground but can still use tactics such as dancing and singing to distract the pickers.
Once the judge calls for hands forward, the picker uses a stick to indicate one of four guesses for the location of the beads. If they guess correctly, their team gets a point. If they do not guess correctly, the other team gets a turn.
Teams are eliminated until only one remains. The winning team receives $100 for each of the seven team members.
Don’t want to compete on a team? Don’t miss out on the auction beforehand, where you have a chance to try to bid on who you think will win. Each team has a flag that is sold in the auction. The winning team receives 25 percent from the auction, with the remaining 75 percent going to the person who bought their flag.
Find more information about hand games on the Hownikan Podcast at cpn.news/handgamespod.
Dance competition
During the powwow, there will be group, social and competitive dances. Competitive dance categories will include men’s traditional, men’s fancy/grass, women’s traditional and women’s fancy shawl/jingle dress.
When dressing for the dances, women should have legs covered by ankle-length skirts and should carry a shawl and wear a shirt that covers the shoulders. Slacks and a ribbon shirt are appropriate for men to wear. Everyone should wear close-toed shoes. For more information about powwow etiquette, see the story on page 6.
Other competitions
There are several other competitions to enter throughout the weekend, so be sure to check your schedule. You could be the next winner of the fry bread making contest, or maybe your family will win one of the sports competitions. There’s softball, golf, volleyball, dominoes, checkers, chess, three-on-three basketball, archery and horseshoes. Children can enter a coloring contest, chess and checkers tournament and youth softball throwing.
Due to construction around the pond, there will be no fishing competition this year. Prizes for some of those competitions can range from $100 for first-place individuals to over $1,000 for first-place teams.
Look for more details in the Festival registration packet.
Moccasins and closed-toed shoes in the arena are one of the basic etiquette requirements of the sacred space. Most dancers wear moccasins while they participate in Grand Entry or competition. Learn how to make a pair of traditional pucker-toe moccasins here.
The Family Reunion Festival weekend also includes classes on how to make different pieces of regalia, beading and other cultural activities.
Hand games remain one of the most anticipated and fun activities of Family Reunion Festival. Held on Friday night, this traditional family competition sometimes tops over 100 participants broken into groups of seven. Hear an explanation of the rules and learn how to play here.
The annual Family Reunion Festival of Citizen Potawatomi Nation is a celebration of Native culture for the Potawatomi. Festival is for CPN members and their immediate households (spouses and those dependents living in the home of the Tribal member).
Activities include Grand Entry, cultural classes, a dance contest, and General Council. Tribal elections are decided during the Family Reunion Festival. Find the 2025 Festival Guide here.
Powwow and Grand Entry
Proper attire honors the sacred space of the dance arena, ancestors, tradition, and fellow Tribal members, and it is mandatory for entering the arena.
Women should keep their legs and shoulders covered by wearing ankle-length skirts and a shirt that conceals the shoulders as well as carry a shawl. Men should wear slacks and a ribbon shirt. Everyone should wear close-toed shoes and move clockwise around the arena. Flip flops, tank tops and shorts are not permitted in the arena. Those not following the dress code will be asked by Arena Directors to remain in the stands.
The powwow consists of group, social and competitive dances. Everyone who meets the clothing requirements can participate in Grand Entry. Competition dances include men’s traditional, women’s traditional, jingle dance and more. Learn more about powwow dances here.
Spectators should remain past the outer edge of the dance arena in the walkway and stands, respecting boundaries of the drum circle, dancers, and others. Respect the seating dancers have marked with blankets or other pieces of cloth and often their regalia. Respect all dancers’ regalia and personal space. Do not touch regalia without permission.
Cell phones are allowed in the arena; however, do not photograph or video any dancers without their permission, especially as they prepare for competition. Spectators should remain in the stands to take photos. Listen carefully to the emcee for times to put away all electronic devices.
Dogs are not allowed in the dance arena as it is a sacred space.
Mid-summer is upon is and it is at this time we honor our position on the good red road ... that path of the summer-winter axis of seasons. We are sitting, metaphorically, in the south: the red seat of love and abundance, and within the seed marriages that we so carefully gathered, sorted, chose to come forward with us and prayed over for good life. We sit now, with that abundance not only of spirit but the spirit intentions carried forward from ALL previous years. The Seed and prayer intentions that were held and carried forward not only by each of us, but also by previous generations, and then given gracious home by Sekmekwe, our Mother Earth.
Now is our time of celebration and meditation. Would each of us avail ourselves daily of the powerful blue butterfly mudra that seats our inner and personal path of duality and unity consciousness? When we do so, the demen berry of our hearts can refocus and strengthen, radiating out and saturating our beingness ... providing an ongoing positive reinforcing and restructuring of the cellular and mental elements of our entire mind, heart, body, and spirit construct. Immediately, to some extent, depending upon our personal evolutionary positioning.
Oh, my! What a time we are moving within. Be firm, constant, and of good heart. For we are always becoming ... within ourselves and also within the circle basket of tightly woven community.
Now, as we sit in the south ... let us recall that we are on the good red road facing north, the direction of the white spirit of winter. The summer fires we are integrating at this time will be the ones by which we will be warming ourselves in the coming winter.
By the compass of the blue butterfly, on our right wing is the direction of the east, youth, spring, mental, and yellow gift. On our left wing is the direction of the west, medicine direction, mature life, water, and the color of black or dark blue. So, we sit al-ways within our personal place, al-ways with a place in the vast, beautiful, mercurial circle of life. We learn, grow, observe, and speak from a unique place, with our own wisdom and communications to share. Let us discover, build, enjoy, and be unafraid to show our original faces. And the blue represents the center of the medicine wheel wherein grows the tree of life, us.
As the medicine wheel talks this month, I would offer the black ash tree basket video teaching/ meditation. This video contains both the linear and circular teaching elements as the basket always emanates from a central, radial place ... as do we.
This video comes from my northern, 3-Fires Anishnabe-Potawatomi tribal background in Michigan. These teachings are truly simple reflections of the goodness and well-being attained through right connection with nature. That is about us and all living things, animate and inanimate ... now and forever more.
May the balanced light of life be always upon and within us. AHO!
Mid-summer is upon is and it is at this time we honor our position on the good red road ... that path of the summer-winter axis of seasons. We are sitting, metaphorically, in the south: the red seat of love and abundance, and within the seed marriages that we so carefully gathered, sorted, chose to come forward with us and prayed over for good life. We sit now, with that abundance not only of spirit but the spirit intentions carried forward from ALL previous years. The Seed and prayer intentions that were held and carried forward not only by each of us, but also by previous generations, and then given gracious home by Sekmekwe, our Mother Earth.
Now is our time of celebration and meditation. Would each of us avail ourselves daily of the powerful blue butterfly mudra that seats our inner and personal path of duality and unity consciousness? When we do so, the demen berry of our hearts can refocus and strengthen, radiating out and saturating our beingness ... providing an ongoing positive reinforcing and restructuring of the cellular and mental elements of our entire mind, heart, body, and spirit construct. Immediately, to some extent, depending upon our personal evolutionary positioning.
Oh, my! What a time we are moving within. Be firm, constant, and of good heart. For we are always becoming ... within ourselves and also within the circle basket of tightly woven community.
Now, as we sit in the south ... let us recall that we are on the good red road facing north, the direction of the white spirit of winter. The summer fires we are integrating at this time will be the ones by which we will be warming ourselves in the coming winter.
By the compass of the blue butterfly, on our right wing is the direction of the east, youth, spring, mental, and yellow gift. On our left wing is the direction of the west, medicine direction, mature life, water, and the color of black or dark blue. So, we sit al-ways within our personal place, al-ways with a place in the vast, beautiful, mercurial circle of life. We learn, grow, observe, and speak from a unique place, with our own wisdom and communications to share. Let us discover, build, enjoy, and be unafraid to show our original faces. And the blue represents the center of the medicine wheel wherein grows the tree of life, us.
As the medicine wheel talks this month, I would offer the black ash tree basket video teaching/ meditation. This video contains both the linear and circular teaching elements as the basket always emanates from a central, radial place ... as do we.
This video comes from my northern, 3-Fires Anishnabe-Potawatomi tribal background in Michigan. These teachings are truly simple reflections of the goodness and well-being attained through right connection with nature. That is about us and all living things, animate and inanimate ... now and forever more.
May the balanced light of life be always upon and within us. AHO!
