Natives in the Landscape

Pow-Wows
The Chickahominies have hosted communal gatherings since the early 1900s. The tradition of a regular, annual Fall Festival and Pow-wow began in 1951. Today, the Pow-wow draws 3,000 to 5,000 participants and visitors who travel from around the United States to attend.

© 2006 Charles City County

Chickahominy Gallery: Pow-Wows


This Chickahominy gathering in 1900 was photographed by Smithsonian ethnographer James Mooney. Communal gatherings for religious, political and social purposes have ancient roots in the Chickahominy Tribe. Revival of such gatherings in the last century is a reflection of a cultural resurgence. Photo courtesy National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution, negative no. 859.


A pan-Indian gathering, sponsored by the Chickahominy Tribe at Windsor Shades in the summer of 1928, was attended by a total of about 200 Virginia Indians. First in the Heart of the Nation (Summer 1928).


The Chickahominies began holding annual Pow-wows in 1951.  The 1959 Pow-wow, pictured here, was held at Samaria Indian School.  Photo courtesy Powhatan Red Cloud-Owen.


Pow-wows were regularly held at Jamestown Settlement until the Tribal Center was built in 1972.


Traditional dance is central part of each Pow-wow.  The Blanket Dance, pictured here, is performed by female dancers who symbolically weave the blankets in the earlier months of the year to provide warmth for their families during the later winter months.  The dance steps represent the various blanket weaves.  Photos courtesy Chickahominy Indian Tribe.



The tradition of the Pow-Wow continues even when the weather brings torrential rains.  The 1987  Pow-wow, pictured here, was held inside the Tribal Center.  Photo courtesy Chickahominy Indian Tribe.

Today, the Chickahominy Fall Festival and Pow-wow boasts the largest attendance of any regular event in Charles City County. It is a social high point of the year for tribal families and a homecoming for many of tribal members who have moved away. Photo courtesy Chickahominy Indian Tribe.



The Chickahominy Tribal flag is carried into the dance arena as a part of the Grand Entry at the Pow-wow.  The turtle represents long life and the persistence of the Chickahominies throughout time.  The circle is the world and Circle of Life, with no beginning and no end, in the four primary colors of the Powhatan people – red, yellow, black and white.  The colors branch off in the four directions from which all the people of the world come – North, South, East and West.  The feathers are the wing feathers of the turkey, an important source of food and ornamentation.  The corn represents the Chickahominy people, the “Course-pounded Corn People,” and acknowledges the importance of corn as food and as an item of trade in their early contact with the English settlers.  The background color symbolizes the buckskin from the white-tail deer, a major source of food and materials for tools, clothing and ornamentation. 

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Natural Environment Learn about the Chickahominy tribe. Learn about the Paspahegh tribe. Learn about the Weyanock tribe.