🌻🌻🌻Mattaponi Education Day🌻🌻🌻

We were invited back this year! This year we will be experiencing exhibition dancing where they explain regalia, dance origins, drums, drum origins, songs and origins and related cultural traditions and words. They have generously set up the village so our kids can view the makings of a homemade canoe, a long house, pelts and furs, vegetables grown traditionally, traditional cooking, a bit of ax throwing (generally just showing this) and so on.

Exhibition generally includes grand entry which honors our country, our state, All of Our Nations (native), the tribe, Color Guard, veterans and prayers are said to God Our Creator. Dances are done to honor God as well and the women and men are modestly dressed because it is culturally done to honor God. Even when it is hot as the devil. ;) Dances include women, men, and children's traditional, jingle, special, fancy, and men's grass. Hoop dancing and then round dancing at the end and all are invited to join this dance, sometimes called the friendship dance.

Afterwards vendors are open for purchasing jewelry, toys, keepsakes etc. We may also get another tour from our guide last year. Between exhibition and vendors we will eat lunch as a group. Bring blankets, rugs, lawn chairs to sit on for exhibition and lunch. Pack lunch and we can let the kids play a bit. Vendor time is sort of a free for all. Next will be touring the village together and anyone can go back to vendors later if they missed anything.

We will be meeting Friday May 25, 2018 at 10 AM on Upper Mattaponi Powwow Grounds. These grounds have no address so Google "Sharon Indian School" and the powwow grounds are across from it in a field. The grounds have a sign at the beginning and there are generally route signs from route 360 down route 30.

The price for admission is $4/person. Bring it in cash to the event and I will hand it to Reggie Tupponce, our host, once we are all together.

This day is done for King William Public Schools so when you enter the gates our HS group will have our own section segregated from theirs. We will sit by the drums and dancers. If the arena is a clock and 12 o'clock is the entry, we will be at 10-11 o'clock.

🌻🌻🌻Please check in here if you are coming and let us know how many people to expect🌻🌻🌻