Native American dancers from central Michigan moved around a dance floor with the sound of jingles following them on Monday at Mid-Michigan College in Mount Pleasant. The dancers taught the audience about the history of three dances.
"We can have our unique, authentic selves in these spaces and so we're going to continue to dance to celebrate that today," Judy Pamp, an Indigenous educator at Mount Pleasant High School, said at the event.
The celebration featured performances by a local Indigenous drum group, the Blue House Singers and Drum Circle. Pamp focused the event on a deep dive into traditional dance, fancy shawl and jingle dress.
Jingle dresses have local ties to the Great Lakes state as it was created by the Ojibwe (Anishinaabe) people. It started during the flu pandemic of 1918, according to the National Congress of American Indians.
The dresses are lined with hundreds of metal cones that create a rhythmic jingle as the dancer moves.
"I love just learning about other cultures and just kind of expanding my world view," Gretchen Furst, junior at Central Michigan that attended the event, said. "So, I was excited to just learn more."
The event had a food sampling, as well, from Indigenous chef Sam Anglin. Each type of food he brought included wild rice, or manoomin.
"My gifts is the food, and that's how I speak the language is through my food," he said. "I try to practice my language every day, either speaking it or by learning new foods and how we can connect with our spirit foods of our ancestors."
Indigenous Peoples’ Day is not federally recognized, however, it takes place on the second Monday in October and certain states celebrate it in place of Columbus Day.
