However, many Native communities continued to gather together in secret to practice their cultures' dance and music, in defiance of this, and other legislation. Burke, Commissioner of Indian Affairs in the United States, passed legislation modeled on Circular 1665, which he published in 1921, that limited the times of the year in which Native Americans could practice traditional dance, which he deemed as directly threatening the Christian religion.

Initially, public dances that most resemble what are now known as pow wows were most common in the Great Plains region of the United States during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a time when the United States government destroyed many Native communities in the hopes of acquiring land for economic exploitation. A number of tribes claim to have held the 'first' pow wow. The term has variants including Powaw, Pawaw, Powah, Pauwau and Pawau. The word powwow is derived from the Narragansett word powwaw, meaning 'spiritual leader'.

This usage is now considered by Indigenous Americans to be an offensive case of appropriation because of the cultural significance powwows hold. In mainstream American culture, such as 20th-century Western movies or by military personnel, the term powwow was used to refer to any type of meeting. Powwows vary in length from single-day to weeklong events. Dancing events can be competitive with monetary prizes. Powwows may be private or public, indoors or outdoors. Powwows today are an opportunity for Indigenous people to socialize, dance, sing, and honor their cultures.

Grand Entry at the 1983 Omaha Pow-wow Men's traditional dancers, Montana, 2007 Pow-Wow in Wendake, Quebec/Canada, 2014Ī powwow (also pow wow or pow-wow) is a gathering with dances held by many Native American and First Nations communities. For other uses, see Powwow (disambiguation). This article is about Native American/First Nations gatherings.

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