November 27, 2022, 10:00 a.m.
“Reflection, Dancing the People’s Prayers”
Nakakakena Boe Smith Harris
Indigenous people have endured many challenges since first contact took place.
They have survived by continuing to honor the Creator, and their traditions of ceremonies, stories, music, and dance.
In 1883 when the U.S. government banned our ceremonies, dances, and allowing our medicine people to heal their own people, the indigenous people continued to pass on our traditions for they knew our survival and strength as a people relied on them doing so.
In our traditional dances, each dance style and dancer tell a story. Each dance style is done to the beat of our sacred drum, and the songs the singers sing out.
Each dance step upon Mother Earth is a prayer. It is an honor to be a dancer, and in this time when we gather together, I would like to share the jingle dance, also known as a prayer dance and healing dance. It is a dance that dances the prayers of the people.
Boe is an enrolled citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. She is of both Chippewa and Dakota ancestry. Boe is a Northern Traditional and Jingle dress dancer and plays the Native American traditional flute. She has shared her music, dance, and cultural awareness to many schools, groups, and events. Boe has danced at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and traveled to Europe with Armed Forces Entertainment. She has dedicated her life to education and increasing public awareness of and appreciation for the indigenous people of this land and their culture. “As a granddaughter of strong indigenous women, my heart and spirit know no other journey than to follow the traditions that flowed within the souls, spirits, and lives of those women who walked before me. Those women were called by their mothers, grandmothers, great grandmothers, and the Creator to prepare the path for the generations to come. Through their blood, heartache, tears, pain, and determination, they honored their call. With pride, respect, honor, and privilege, I walk this same path.”
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