BILLINGS — The 55th Annual MSU Billings Powwow took place on Friday and Saturday, bringing together hundreds of people to celebrate Native American culture with music, dancing, and a new addition to the festivities with a double elimination stick game tournament.
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The event was held at the MSU Billings Alterowitz Gym and was free to the public. This year's theme was “Flowers Bloom and Waters Flow” and included multiple dance categories, vendors, and an alumni breakfast.
Related: Photos: MSU-Billings hosts 55th annual powwow
For Native students and alumni, the more than five-decade-old event holds a special place in their hearts, offering an opportunity to connect with their heritage and fellow community members.
"Billings is an urban area and so a lot of people who are students here are kind of far away from home, the closest reservation being the Crow reservation, and some of us coming from even farther away from that, so it's nice to have that weekend to kind of feel like you're back home,” said Ricki Campbell, the MSUB All Nations Club social media coordinator.
This year's Head Woman dancer was Cyra Plainfeather and the Head Man dancer was student and basketball player Famous Lefthand, an honor that holds deep meaning for him as a Native student-athlete.
“It means a lot, especially being a Native basketball player, so I feel like it's always something that's pretty cool to go about because that's all my teammates talk about, 'What's a powwow about?'” said Lefthand. "I feel like it's a big accomplishment to do it for especially living in Crow.”
Related: 55th annual MSU Billings powwow begins, features special Head Woman
This year’s powwow also saw the addition of a new tradition with a stick game tournament on Saturday, which served as a fundraiser for the university’s All Nations Club.
“This is the first time we're doing it here on campus at the same time as the powwow," said Campbell.
The stick game is a traditional hand game that varies in rules across tribes. Two players on opposite sides are called "hiders," and will hide two sticks or bones, one marked and one unmarked, in their hands. Teams are required to guess which hand of their opponent is holding the marked stick or bone, with the ultimate goal of collecting all 11 sticks to their side. Teams can have five to 12 players participate.
"It's basically guessing. It's either in that hand or this hand, and sometimes you can tell, sometimes you can't tell," said Randolph Big Day. "If you get all 11 sticks, then it's game over and then you go move on to the next team.”
Games can last anywhere from 10 minutes to several hours and involve singing and drum playing woven within the gameplay. For participants like Big Day, the game is more than just a competition but a cherished family tradition.
“I think it's fun because I grew up in it and my whole family plays it. Even my daughter, she's only three and she plays too,” said Big Day. “We usually play at home too, just to mess around. Instead of pulling out Monopoly, we pull out hand games.”
While the powwow is full of dancing and games, its deeper significance lies in its role as a living celebration of Native American culture.
"Having that education and having people witness what we're doing and that we're still here and we're still practicing our culture is very important so people know that we're still here and we're still thriving and doing stuff that we haven't been able to always practice. That we're bringing it back and we're still doing it," said Campbell.
