Powwow! Ohcîwin The Origins opens at Lloydminster Museum and Archives

“When you dress up real nice, your spirit loves that.” – Sharon Baptiste, Women’s Traditional Dancer and Knowledge Keeper

Lloydminster, AB/SK – Meaning, respect and love - these are the qualities that a dancer’s regalia carries. The Lloydminster Museum + Archives invites citizens to learn about the origins of the powwow and see handcrafted regalia up close in the exhibit Powwow! Ohcîwin The Origins, now on display until April 20, 2024.

This exhibit features seven powwow dance styles, with full regalia and craft work. Curators and creators Patrick and Marrisa Mitsuing have gathered the stories, worked with the Artisans, and carefully built the regalia for this exhibition.

Ohcîwin is a Cree word meaning “The Origin” or telling of a story where something originated.

Powwow! Ohciwin the Origins was created by Patrick and Marrisa Mitsuing. Working with a diverse team of Indigenous artists from Western Canada and the US, the pair assembled each of the individual dance regalia on display. During the 2019 and 2020 powwow season, they met with knowledge keepers across North America to record the origin stories of the dances they perform. The dances are Men’s Traditional, Men’s Fancy, Men’s Chicken, Men’s Grass, Women’s Traditional, Women’s Fancy and Women’s Jingle.

“We’re so proud and excited to launch Powwow! Ohcîwin The Origins,” says Holly Durawa, Collections Coordinator. “The history of powwows and the way that they have generated pride and cultural understanding in spite of the repressive prohibitions that were part of the Indian Act is such an inspiring story for today. The regalia created for the exhibition are spectacular, representing some of the best work one in North America. We’re grateful to Patrick and Marrisa Mitsuing for presenting us with the original idea for the project, and for sharing their knowledge and their deep love of powwow.”

Powwows are Indigenous cultural celebrations where many forms of dance styles are performed as part of the ceremony. These social gatherings, held across North America, bring people together to sing, dance, and share teachings while celebrating Indigenous culture. Each dance style has a meaning or origin story and a specific purpose. Each dance style has distinctive regalia and ornamentation related to the dance's origin story.