LOCAL EVENTS
The Sacred Springs Powwow at the Meadows Center welcomed more than 8,000 guests over the weekend, as well as a record number of participants after doubling the prize money for several of the competitive dances.
Mario Garza, who cofounded Sacred Springs 15 years ago, said the Powwow raised the top prize for select dances from $500 to $1,000, one of the biggest payouts in Texas. The increased competition resulted in top contestants from throughout the Americas, many of whom travel as professional dancers on the powwow circuit.
“There’s a lot of dancers, that’s how they make a living. They go from powwow to powwow. These are people that started dancing when they were four years old, five years old. So when you see them, it looks like they’re dancing on air, they’re that good,” Garza said.
Another result of this high-profile powwow was the high level of drumming, including the Ottertrail Singers, a renowned Southern drum group based in Apache, OK led by singer Al Santos, a former professional wrestler and actor who appeared on the Disney+ show “Echo.” The Northern drum group was the Central Texas-based Eagle Point Singers, led by head singer Chayton Hoskins.
Head gourd dancer Lee Walters said that Northern and Southern drum groups have distinctive styles. The Northern groups are high pitched and the Southern groups “are real deep and low.”
Part of a competitive dance is showing off regalia to the judges, but most important is being in sync with the drummers, matching dance moves to the beat and coming to a stop precisely when the drummers stop, according to Walters. Dancers who are unable to freeze at the end of a song often withdraw from the competition.
“Dancers follow these drums, you’ve got to learn all these songs. At the end of a competition, if it’s that last drum beat, you have got to stop. If you move anything and if you drop any regalia, the honorable thing is to step out.”
Although he was a champion dancer in years past, Walters now only dances the Gourd Dance, a non-competitive dance which pays tribute to Veterans and others who have done good deeds for American Indians.
“For people that came back from the military, back from war trying to get their spirit right again, the gourd dances are a real comfort,” Walters said. ”Before we start dressing out, that’s our time to pray, get ready. So it’s very spiritual.”
Dancer Sylvia Jean, of Austin, also talked of the devotional aspect of dancing at a powwow. “For me it’s a church and I’m praying while I’m dancing.”
Jean took part in the blessing ceremony at the beginning of the Powwow, on the banks of the San Marcos River in front of the Meadows Center.
“There’s all kinds of paths in our life,” she said. “Our trip and our journey, but if you hold on to walking in beauty, if you hold on to trying to be in balance and harmony in this circle of life and stay true to your own self, that’s what I pray for all of us.”
Also speaking during the opening blessing, Carlos Aceves, who taught an Aztec Calendar Workshop, described the way the Springs looked to the Native Americans who visited thousands of years ago.
“A long time ago, this place would have looked very different. When you approached these Springs, you would have seen a great mist around them, from the vapors that would come out, and they would actually be bubbling. If you go down underwater now, you can still see them bubbling a little bit, but it was much, much stronger then, these big domes of steam.”
“This is like our Garden of Eden,” said Garza. “A lot of people say that when they hear the drums, they feel the spirits of the old Indians coming up and joining us.”
The Meadows Center has been honored to serve as the site of the Sacred Springs Powwow, said Miranda Wait, Deputy Director of Spring Lake Education at the Meadows Center.
“We join in recognizing the sacred connection between the Coahuiltecan people and this ancient place,” Wait said. “For more than 13,000 years, these springs have sustained life and community. As stewards, our role is not only to protect this vital resource but also to honor and share the cultural stories that continue to flow from it.”
Texas State President Kelly Damphousse, who has attended the Powwow every year since 2022, was unable to attend this year, but plans to return next year.
”I’m sad that I’ll be missing it this year because I will be out of town. It is one of my favorite events because it brings back so many great memories of my childhood going to powwows in northern Canada. I was adopted so I don’t know my heritage. But my foster sister is a Cree, and we lived next to her reservation when we were young. My parents regularly took us kids to their powwows, where we learned to dance and how to make bead jewelry.”
