The 20th annual Natchez Powwow is scheduled for this weekend at the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians, located at 400 Jefferson Davis Blvd.

No public seating is provided; visitors are urged to bring lawn chairs. Admission is $3 for adults and $1 for children 12 and under. The admission charge helps to offset the Powwow expenses and benefits the Natchez Post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. VFW personnel will be operating the Powwow gate. A variety of food and craft booths will surround the dance circle.

Craft and food booths will open on Saturday, at 10 a.m. Gourd Dancing begins at 1 p.m. followed by the Grand Entry and Intertribal Dancing at 2 p.m. Saturday evening dancing begins at 7 p.m.

Sunday’s activities begin at noon with craft and food booths open. Gourd Dancing begins at 1 p.m. followed by the Grand Entry and Intertribal Dancing at 2 p.m. In the case of rain, the dancing and booths will relocate to the Trinity School gymnasium on U. S. 61 South.

The Natchez Powwow is co-sponsored by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and Dr. Charles Borum, who heads the Natchez Powwow Committee. Dr. Borum founded the Natchez Powwow in 1989 after participating for many years in powwows in Oklahoma. In 1990, the event moved to the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians, a National Historic Landmark with a museum accredited by the American Association of Museums.

In 2007 over 4,000 people attended this unique event to celebrate the Native American heritage of the Natchez area.

Leading the Powwow proceedings this year are: Bo Limbaugh (Catoosa, Okla.), Master of Ceremonies; Darsh DeSilva (Round Rock, Texas), Arena Director; Doug Donnell (Delaware, Bartlesville, Oklahoma), Head Singer Southern Drum; Dean Hugeback (with MaKenzie River Drum from Ohio), Head Singer Southern Drum; Craig Jones (Palm Beach, Fla.), Head Man Dancer; Rosetta LeClair (Ponca, Ponca City, Okla.), Head Lady Dancer; Wounded Warrior Gourd Clan (Louisiana), Host Gourd Dance Clan; and White Star Gourd Dance Society (Indiana), Guest Gourd Dance Society. Natchez Indian descendant Hutke Field (Notchee Town, Oklahoma) will once again represent the Natchez Nation.

Patterned after powwows in Oklahoma, the Natchez Powwow has become a tradition in the Miss-Lou, linking our modern society with this area’s past cultures and the rich legacy of the Natchez Indians. Over the years, Natchez Powwow participants have represented many Native American tribes including: Natchez, Ponca, Comanche, Creek, Cherokee, Shawnee-Quapaw, Delaware, Oto, Osage, Mississippi Choctaw, Coushatta, Cheyene, Potowatami, Navajo and Sac Fox.

The Grand Village of the Natchez Indians is an appropriate location for ceremonial and social dancing. From around A.D. 1200 until 1729, the site served as a ceremonial center for the Natchez Indians and their ancestors. Following a war with the French, the Natchez were forced to abandon their mound site in 1730. Many Natchez refugees were adopted into the Cherokee and Creek tribes, located in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Over a century later, Natchez Indian descendants were moved with these tribes to reservation lands in Oklahoma. Near the town of Braggs, Okla., descendants of the Natchez Indians established a ceremonial dance ground that was in use until the early 1960s.

We invite the public to help us celebrate the 20th Annual Natchez Powwow. The Grand Village is administered by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Call 601-446-6502 for more information.

Jim BArnett is the director of the Division of Historic Properties at the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians.