A Traditional Pow Wow Dancer

Sam short for Sammaripa, he is a traditional dancer, been dancing a
long time. Had a chance to share a meal with him just the other day.
He drives a truck and works on them too. His hands are gnarled and he
is tall, with long gray hair. He comes from someplace around Pyramid
Lake I think. he told me but I have forgotten. He is a Paiute, maybe
Western Shoshoe, can't really remember. He has been working for long
time, maybe 40 years or so at the same job.

We shared a meal of indian tacos, fry bread with beans, a little
hamburger and a little hot sauce with cheese. There was a table
outside the tribe store and so we sat out there to enjoy the sun and
warm weather. His eyes are gray, and he has many grandchildren.


I asked him if he was going to any pow wows over Memorial Day, he
looked at me with steady eyes, he has always had eyes the somehow see
beyond, they look straight into you. He told me they were headed to
the Pow Wos in Las Vegas, somewhere Northwest of there.


It's going to be hot, Sam are you ready for the sun down there. He
took a bite of his frybread and I could see the gleem of his gold
teeth. He said, the first dances of the season are the tough ones over
the long winter, the old bones have to get in tune with the music. I
can usually last one long dance . bit by the end of the summer you can
go maybe six dances. It makes you tough.


I could see him sitting there in his work clothes worn and gray with
age, but in the arena he wears an eagle bustle, with a head full of
eaglel feathers. His wife is from the Northwest and she wears a heavy
buckskin. He said they were going to make a family trip, take the
grandkids down there and dance for the weekend. He has a van he uses
just for pow wows, after years on the pow wow circuit he knows what to
take and how to camp. He said one year they took three tipis, and set
them up, this year it is just going to be one, this weekend down
there.


He told me that the kids like to dance, it is good for them to know
the people who go there, the other tribes, and families. They all get
to know each other.
He finished his lunch and said he had to work on getting a dozer from
the forest, it broke down, threw a rod. He said it would take a new
engine to get it going again. We sat there and talked for a bit and
maybe an hour went by, he spoke about the way of dancing, and his
home, that no one was there anymore around his age, and so he was
going to retire where his kids lived. He told me it doesn't really
matter where you end up, but how you do no matter where you go. This
place is now his home he said and he likes to dance, and with that he
hopes to see his grandchildren dance with him and learn about the way
of living in a good way. We talked about the drought, no water for
planting, and a little about the upcoming 4th of July and how he
planned to camp. He said we have already set up our tapes to mark the
place where we are going to camp this year. Across the way we could
see the pow wow grounds and some indian folks were already marking out
their campsites for the 4th of July.


I had to leave and so said take it easy on the road down there and
left him sitting there finishing his iced tea. It was a warm day and
he is down there now at Snow Mountain kicking up the dust with his
grandchildren and his wife and they will be headed home on Monday
night to get up and work like he has for the past 40 years. Sammaripa
is a traditional dancer and he is dancing for his children and for the
sheer joy of it.


rustywrie