Powwows Research Paper

During the 19th century, a holy man had a sick daughter and he had a dream that said she would be healed if she danced with a dress with a jingle for each day of the year. There are different versions of the origin of the jingle dress, but most agree that the jingle dress appeared through a dream connection. The Jingle Dress dance was dead for 20 years then it made a comeback in Powwows. Powwows are competitions for family traditions which continues their culture and legacy. These competitions describe a way of life as it includes dance, family ties, travel, and financial survival. The jingle dress is a prayer to heal as rattling is considered a healing sound. The jingle dress as well as other powwow dance performances propel the power of Iruska, a kind of fire power, that integrates music, regalia, and body movement while linking together different tribe’s historical and community experience. Like other dances, the Jingle Dress dance has been passed down generations which keeps …show more content…
The first Majenos dance in San Jeronimo appeared during the 1940’s after undergoing regional changes after a earthquake that caused a shift in the economy towards the capital, the end of the hacienda system, and the state began building roads and schools. The Majenos Dance distinguishes social classes between urban and rural regions caused by these regional changes. The dance also distinguishes the difference between mestizos and Indians in San Jeronimo as Indians had acquired negative connotations in the Americas. Mestizos were part of the elite social class because they had less Indian in them. In San Jeronimo, The Majenos Dance was performed for the Octave of Corpus Christi and during the patron saint festivity of the town. This started when a group of transportatistas wanted to gain social reputation of being “decent” or local elites by including their own traditions in the patron saint