Native American culture celebrated at Round Dance

The first Round Dance event held in the Mankato area was a mix of competition, Native American cultural education, food, vendors and a lot of fun with Native American dancing, drumming and singing.

“Round Dance is very social, but rooted in ceremonial beliefs,” said Redwing Thomas, who emceed the event Saturday at the Kato Ballroom.

“I grew up in this but just started emceeing a few years ago,” said Thomas, of Santee, Nebraska.

Round Dance originated with the Cree thousands of years ago and spread to other Native American tribes.

Thomas said Round Dances are aimed at strengthening communities.

Megan Heutmaker, director of American Indian Affairs at Minnesota State University, which hosted the event, said it is the first time a round dance has been held in the area.

“We’re excited to offer this unique event for our community.”

She said people came from all over to participate or watch the event.

“There are a lot of people from our area who are excited about having it here. There are people here from the Cities, Milwaukee, South Dakota, Nebraska.”

Prizes were given in the sidestep and hand drum competitions as well as for the best ribbon shirt and ribbon skirt. Winners were decided through a combination of crowd support and judges.

Cultural presentations were given during the event, including on dreamcatchers and their meaning, traditional Native hand games and flint knapping and stone tools.

Flint knapping is chipping black obsidian to make it into sharp knives, spear points and other items.

Alex Ek gave the flint knapping demonstration. His family are descendants of those who lived in the Yucatan of southern Mexico.

“I’ve always been interested in (flint knapping) and wanted to connect to our culture,” he said.

A decade ago, Ek found an Ojibwe flint knapping expert who became his mentor for three years.

Ek said the key to learning the craft is patience.

“It’s repetitive practice and you are going to break pieces. I’ve been doing this for 10 years and I still break them frequently.”

The event also featured a potato dance, a traditional dance for couples where they hold a potato between their foreheads while attempting to dance with the beat. The last couple remaining with the potato still between their foreheads wins.

The event was tied in with the Mankato Art Crawl, also held Saturday.

Sponsors of Saturday’s event were the Native American Student Association at MSU, American Indian Affairs at MSU, Lakota Made, Mahkato Revitalization Project and American Indigenous Studies Program at MSU.