Pow Wow

The Mission View RV Resort where I live is located on the Tohono O'Odham Indian Reservation as well as Xavier del Bac Mission. In early March they had their annual pow wow. It was a sunny Saturday afternoon with lots of clouds scuttling across the sky. I got there in time to see the performers get their numbers and line up for their entrance to the dancing circle. The emcee announced that pictures were allowed, but no video. I guess that allowed for the honor system, because with today's cameras you can't tell if a person is doing stills or video. All of the outfits are handmade. They are not called costumes, because that would imply that one is pretending to be an Indian, and, of course, all these participants are Indians. This I learned from a lady from Canada who had come south to warm up for a couple weeks.

The outfits had several categories and fringed dresses was one of them. Pictures were difficult to take, because the person you might be trying to shoot could be blocked by someone walking in front of your camera. So even using telephoto, you never knew what to expect.

This young lady was so photogentic and obviously enjoying herself. She had sequins and fringes.

These entrants are lining up with their numbers. I was blown away by how colorful the outfits were.

You only have to be able to walk or toddle in some cases and have the appropriate outfit. These two were just darling. The one girl seems to be somewhat shy, and is being led by the other one.

I took a lot of pictures of this young man. He was totally into it. Some sort of shuffled to the beat, but this guy pounded the dirt and moved his whole body.

The dance arena is located behind the church, so when I came out to the parking lot, I couldn't help myself. The clouds made the day!

This food area to the east side of the parking lot always does a good business, but today because of the pow wow, they were exceptionally busy, and the smell was wonderful.

Clouds automatically make an exceptional sunset. What a perfect ending to an exciting day!

These are a neighbor's petal cactus that were blooming in March. Everything bloomed early this year because of our mild winter. I'm slowly learning the different cacti and someday will be more specific in identification, especially when it comes to the different petals.