(25 Apr 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Albuquerque, New Mexico – 25 April 2025
1. Various of dancers at the Gathering of Nations
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Deshava Apachee, Gathering of Nations dancer:
“Gathering Nations is a gathering of Indian culture. Basically, the way I look at it in our everyday life of modern-day society, it’s our time, and many people have all come together and basically step back to how it used to be back then."
3. Dancers at the powwow
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Deshava Apachee, Gathering of Nations dancer:
“This powwow represents to me is a lot about family. Family, and it’s just in the name. Because how many? How many chances do you really get to get so many different tribes in one place?"
5. Various of people drumming and chanting
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Christian Rangel, Gathering of Nations dancer: ++AUDIO AS INCOMING++
“All week long, I look forward to dancing on the weekends. Whenever I’m out there, I just feel good. I release everything throughout the week, and I just feel like I’m safe and I’m surrounded by people who have watched me grow up. So now I’m just happy to give it my all out there.”
7. Various of dancers
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Christian Rangel, Gathering of Nations dancer:
“All my stuff has all my tribe symbols on it, and fancy dancing’s been to my family. My uncle was a fancy dancer, so it’s definitely in our culture and just a way of life for us."
9. Rangel showing his regalia
10. Dancers at the powwow
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Deshava Apachee, Gathering of Nations dancer:
“There’s a lot of reasons why people dance. It’s not just for shows. It’s for healing, it’s for strength, and it’s for reconnecting. A lot of people, they find new relatives here."
12. Dancers at the powwow
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Deshava Apachee, Gathering of Nations dancer:
“Like I said, it is a gathering of nations. That’s what this represents for me."
14. Tight show of dancers’ shoes
STORYLINE:
Thousands of people are gathering in New Mexico for a celebration showcasing Native American and Indigenous dancers, musicians and artisans from around the world.
Billed by organizers as the largest powwow in North America, the annual Gathering of Nations festival kicked off Friday with a colorful procession of dancers spiraling into the center of an arena at the New Mexico state fairgrounds.
Participants wear elaborate regalia — some with jingling bells and others with feathers. They dance to the tempo of rhythmic drumming, each coming to the gathering for their own reasons.
“It’s not just for show,” said Deshava Apache, who is Mescalero Apache and Navajo. “It’s for healing, it’s for strength, it’s for reconnecting.”
The event also features the crowning of Miss Indian World, as well as horse parades in which riders are judged on the craftsmanship of their intricately beaded adornments or feathered headdresses and how well they work with their horses.
Powwows are a relatively modern phenomenon that emerged in the 1800s as the U.S. government seized land from tribes throughout the Northern and Southern Plains. Forced migrations and upheaval during this period resulted in intertribal solidarity among Plains people and those from the southern prairies of Canada.
Alliances were formed, giving way to the exchange of songs and dances during gatherings between different tribes. In the decades that followed, powwows were advertised to pioneers heading westward as “authentic” Native American dance shows. For some, it was an exploitation of their cultures.
AP Video shot by Susan Montoya Bryan
Production: Thomas Peipert
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