Textiles as Healing: Dancing With The Ancestors
At the core of my being, I’m a Pau Wau Dancer. Some of the best times I’ve experienced come from traveling on the Pow Wow Highway. I was one of “3 Women & A Baby:” Calo, Shaky, Duck, and me. We hung out with our drum, Eastern Bull. From Connecticut to South Carolina we rode the I-95 corridor listening to native drum music, sharing stories, and laughing like happy youngin’s. Pow Wowing is a good life!
The Covid shutdown is teaching me that I need to practice Sacred Dancing every day. It needs to be part of my daily ritual to keep me from backsliding into negative feelings of being so overwhelmed that hope is in short supply. It’s important for me to step outside of my troubles and by putting music to my circumstances. The Pow Wow Drum that speaks to my soul is Northern Cree. My song is “BJ Blues – “Oh My Sweetheart, Oh My Sweetheart, You Are So Beautiful,” from the Sweethearts’ Shuffle – Round Dance Songs album.
As 2021 is ending, I’m critiquing my healing process and using this time to pause and reflect on my thoughts and actions. Who Am I? | What Do I Want 2 Make Today? | What IF? I need to celebrate my achievements while practicing humility and kindness. At midnight on December 31st, I reset myself with two endpoints, a body of work in new quilts, and outfits to wear demonstrating that indigenous fashion is a language of survivance.
Fiber Art by Carola 