BOOM-boom-boom-boom-BOOM-boom-boom-boom. BOOM-boom-boom-boom-BOOM-boom-boom-boom. The rhythm races from the drums, across the ground and up my feet. It is haunting, it is relentless, it is mesmerizing. The dancers swirl by, buckskin, beads, bells, quills, feathers, prairie dresses, shawls — ribbons flashing in the sunlight, recapturing their ancestor’s steps, dancing the dances of a thousand years.

BOOM-boom-boom-boom-BOOM-boom-boom-boom. No, this isn’t a rerun of Custer about to be massacred again. Nor is it the latest tv movie showing half-dressed savages uttering strange noises and circling wagon trains killing white settlers when they weren’t annihilating soldiers sent out to subdue them.

Fast-forward a century plus. This is Dawnland Center’s Third Annual Summer Pow Wow held on August 15-16 in East Montpelier.

Just as Americans have grown, so have Native Americans. Down to basics here: Indians, Native Americans, are people — just like anyone else, you and me included. They share essentially the same beliefs as anyone else. Their way of showing these beliefs befits their culture.

Today’s Indian may be your next door neighbor. At this pow wow, one of the women was one of my neighbors. When I asked her why she was there she said, “Two of my grandparents are Mohawks.” “Are you here to dance?” I asked, as she was dressed in a lovely pale-blue traditional prairie dress. “No,” she answered with a laugh, “I’m here to sing.”

In an effort to share the Native American heritage with fellow neighbors and friends, the people of Dawnland (a non-profit Indian support group in Montpelier) invited the public to their pow wow. This year was the biggest event yet with twice as many vendors and participants coming from as far away as Canada and the Pacific Northwest. The local audience grows yearly.

As Charlene McManis, Secretary at Dawnland and an Umpqua from Oregon says, “where we lay down our blanket is home. Until Dawnland opened, and I found I was not alone as a Native American in Vermont, I didn’t have a place to spread my blanket. Now, I do.” If you follow the local theater scene in Central Vermont, Charlene is better-known as a choreographer to many local theater groups. She finished working on the Valley Players summer production of The Wizard of Oz in July only to turn around and produce the pow wow. No sooner was the pow wow wrapped up than she started work on Damn Yankees with the Barre Players.

The focus of the pow wow is the sacred circle, essentially the Native American’s version of a cathedral, albeit portable. Entrance is only allowed via the Eastern Entrance — as the sun rises. Dancers go around the circle in a clockwise fashion as a rule. The only deviation is during the Honor Dance when wounded veterans go the opposite way to be greeted and appreciated by the other members of the tribes.

Vendors selling their crafts surrounded the periphery of the dance circle. Just about everything one needs to make a ceremonial dress from beads to skins, drums, feathers, silver jewelry, leather goods, moccasins was spread out on tables. Most of the vendors travel the United States from pow wow to pow wow living out of their RVs and selling their wares. There were only three tipis I could see.

I arrived just after the fire had been lit in the Sacred Circle in an opening ceremony. The fire would remain burning throughout the event.

Under the cloudy sky the participants of the Grand Entry assembled under the Eastern Entrance to the sacred circle. An elder smudged each one by waving a handful of smoking herbs and sweet grasses around the person. The smudging tradition is used to purify one’s thoughts prior to a ceremony or meeting to prepare for the task at hand. It’s a way to focus concentration. When the last person had been smudged the Grand Entry began. First the flags were marched in to the accompaniment of the host drum. The Indian Nation flag (the U.S. flag with a Native American warrior superimposed on it), the individual “nation” flags representing each of the tribes attending, followed by the honored POW-MIA flag and other service flags. While carrying a ceremonial flag is a tremendous honor, carrying the POW-MIA flag is the ultimate honor always carried by a veteran wounded in battle. Today the honor was accorded Wounded Pony, an Abenaki from Rhode Island. As he described the honor an electrifying grin lit up his face, “I’m in another world.”

The parade’s order of entrance follows the society of the Native American culture. After the flags come the elders — respected for their knowledge and lifetimes, the bulk of the warriors — to protect the following family members (women and children), followed by the remaining warriors — bringing up a “defensive” rear.

BOOM-boom-boom-boom-BOOM-boom-boom-boom. Familiar rhythms pounded by the host drum burst through the soles of your feet. The song chants, an unfamiliar language to non-Indians, clearly expressed the dancers’ feelings. Dancing is not necessarily a proscribed format — fancy, traditional, hoop — rather it is described by the participants as “how you feel when you get in the circle.”

The dancers ranged from infants carried by proud parents to elders of considerable years. Several families marched together. Some children had clearly been part of the circle many times handling the honor with obvious pride. Their regalia ranged from the traditional buckskin, prairie dresses, loin cloths and ribbon shirts, to the less traditional jeans.

As no photographs are allowed during the first three dances: the Grand Entry, the Honor and the Flag dances, I had to wait to bring out my camera. The Shawl Dance, performed by women of all ages from toddlers to grandmothers, was a showcase of swirling, flashing color. The dancers dipped and spun, arms outstretched their beribboned-shawls raced over the breeze.

The Warrior Dance was a re-enactment of a hunt. The male dancers acted out the stalking of an enemy as they strode quietly and dropped to their knees listening and watching.

For a spectator, the Pow wow was a peek into another culture, a sharing of a lifestyle, a living history carried on. While today’s Native American is quite up-to-date thank you, they are also able to continue a heritage that goes back more than just generations.

If you missed the August Pow Wow, there is another in Barre on October 3 at the Barre Auditorium. Contact the Dawnland Center at 229-0601 for more information.