It has been two years since our family attended the Delaware Powwow at Copan, Oklahoma at the Falleaf camp. In 2019 it was a May of serious tornadoes and flooding keeping us from making the 2000 mile trip. In 2020 it was the Corona COVID-19 virus that prevented the Delaware Powwow from happening. In 2020 COVID -19 also closed the Forksville, PA Eastern Delaware Powwow.
Two years without our powwow celebrations and ceremonies have left all of us with an empty feeling similar to what our ancestors must have felt when they were not allowed to hold their ceremonies. It was not until 1978 with the Native American Religious Freedoms Act of Congress that our religious ceremonies were finally included in the freedom of religion guaranteed to all Americans. Once again state and federal powers deny American Indians their religious freedom under the cloak of a suspicious pandemic excuse. If one can wear a mask to shop at Walmart or go to church it would seem reasonable for American Indians to gather outdoors for their ceremonies at Powwow. Let us hope braver minds make powwows again in 2021.
Future dates for the EDN Powwow and the Delaware Powwow will be posted here.