Since ancient times, people have grown gourds for purposes other than food. The hard-shelled fruits were dried to make household containers, and on nearly every continent, people hollowed out gourds and filled them with seeds to make percussion instruments.
In some indigenous American traditions, the Gourd Dance, danced with a rattle shaken in accompaniment to drums, was held before a battle, to guide the warriors’ feet to find and overcome their enemies.
Today, gourds are carved into jack-o-lanterns with scary faces to ward off spirits on Halloween. An ellipsis of All Hallow’s Eve, Halloween is celebrated the day before All Saints’ Day on the church calendar. In Spanish cultures, it’s Dios de los Muertas, the Day of the Dead, a time to honor ancestors.
That’s what members of the Red Star Intertribal Gourd Dance Society will be doing on Saturday, Oct. 21, when they gather in Clinton for their 18th Annual Ancestors Memorial Gourd Dance and Pow Wow. The event, at the Benson Center, is free and open to the public, and features tribal dancing, which is separate from the Gourd Dance, according to Shari LaRousa, event spokesperson.
“You have to be invited to join the Gourd Dance,” Shari said. “You don’t just get up and start dancing.”
Although it’s called a Gourd Dance, the rattles they shake are no longer made out of gourds.
“They are made out of old salt shakers,” Shari said. “They usually have seeds inside to make the rattle.”
The Gourd Dance was lost in the first part of the 20th century, but revived by Kiowa veterans after World War II. The Kiowa trace it to a legend about a young man who becomes disoriented and dehydrated after becoming lost. Separated from his tribe, he hears singing, and discovers a red wolf dancing on its hind legs. The wolf tells the young man to take the dance and the songs back to his people.
Some tribes, including the Northern Cherokee Nation, only allow veterans, as modern-day warriors, to dance the Gourd Dance. The Red Star Society does not have that restriction, Shari said. Red Star Gourd dancers wear the traditional regalia — a red and blue blanket worn over the shoulder, a sash around the waist, and a bandolier — and carry a fan made of eagle feathers and a rattle.
Gourd Dancers gather around the edge of a circle and dance in place, lifting their feet in time to drum beats, and shaking their rattles. While the Northern Cherokee’s Gourd Dance consists of multiple rounds of steps and gestures, Red Star’s Gourd Dance usually lasts an hour or two, Shari said. It will be followed by Grand Entries at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., then tribal dancing.
The intensity of the drum beats increases as Gourd dancers tap into the collective energy generated through the rhythm and repetition of the chant. The Gourd Dance traditionally ends with a howl, in tribute to the red wolf.
According to redstargourd.com, the Red Star Society was sanctioned in 1998 by an Elder of the Southern Cheyenne and the Southern Cheyenne Gourd Dance Society, who sought and received permission from the Kiowa and Southern Cheyenne to sanction Red Star as a Gourd Dance Society.
In 2004, Red Star held its first “Dance for Our Ancestors” outside of Eureka Springs, Ark., and has held a Pow Wow and Gourd Dance every year since. The star is considered a symbol of honor in many cultures, and the color red is associated with the earth and blood, symbols of strength and power.
In 2009, the Red Star Society started holding its annual Pow Wow in Clinton because of its location, halfway between Kansas City and Springfield. The gathering draws 300 to 350 people from all across the state, Shari said, as well as neighboring states. Her heritage is Delaware/Cherokee, she said, but Cheyenne and Osage will also be represented.
“My father was a member of the Red Star Society, my husband, Bob, is a member, and my brother and sister are members,” Shari said.
Her brother, Matt Wray of Clinton, won’t be attending the Pow-Wow on Saturday because of a previous commitment, nor will her sister, a veteran who lives in the Veterans Home in Warrensburg, Shari said.
Intertribal societies formed to provide opportunities for indigenous people to socialize, dance and sing, and remember and honor their heritage.
The Gourd Dance was originally part of the Kiowa Sun Dance, associated with the summer solstice. Gourds ripen in the fall, however, the time of the Pow Wow, a traditional gathering for native Americans before winter. Tribes continued to gather for annual Pow Wows into the first decades of the last century, setting up small villages of teepees or traditional shelters in fields on the edge of towns or cities.
Modern life has reduced Pow Wows to one day or weekend events, with participants arriving and camping in RVs, although some still set up traditional shelters.
The Northern Cherokee Nation holds an annual three-day Pow Wow and Cultural Gathering in mid-September in the fields back of their tribal complex on Hwy. 7 South, east of Clinton.
The annual Harvest Moon Inter-Tribal Pow Wow is held on the first weekend in October at Cooper County Fairgrounds in Booneville, Mo.
The Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma’s Pow Wow and Celebration, now in its 60th year, is held on Labor Day weekend in the northeast corner of Oklahoma, just west of Joplin, Mo. The Ottawa celebration includes a Stomp Dance as well as a Gourd Dance.
Red Star’s 18th Annual Ancestors Memorial Gourd Dance and Pow Wow starts with gourd dancing at 12:30 p.m. this Saturday, Oct. 21, at the Benson Convention and Exposition Center, 1008 E. Sedalia Ave., Clinton, Mo., 64735. Concessions, which include fry bread, open at 11:30 a.m. Gourd dancing opens the evening session at 6 p.m., followed by tribal dancing. Each item of regalia worn by dancers has a spiritual significance to the wearer. Spectators are asked to be respectful of dancers’ apparel and the occasion.
The Red Star Gourd Dance and Pow Wow is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. The Missouri Arts Council also provides financial assistance.
