By Bryan Eneas

On the Powwow Trail: the Jingle Dress

Jul 20, 2016 | 1:04 PM

The jingle dress dance is an important part of any powwow, competition or traditional.

The bright colours and, sometimes, hundreds of bell shaped ‘jingles’ make up a dress dedicated to a lively dance. But more than a pretty garment, the jingle dress and its corresponding moves was first renowned for its healing powers.

Brandy and Cara Morin are both jingle dress dancers from Big River First Nation competing at the Witchekan Lake competition powwow this week. According to the sisters, Brandy just started dancing this summer while Cara returned to dancing after a five year break.

“I felt the need to dance. I was doing some things and I didn’t like where I was going, so I started dancing,” Brandy said.

Both sisters felt they were going through a trial-by-fire sort of initiation to the sport by jumping straight into the competition circuit. Typically, newer dancers will start dancing on the traditional powwow trail and then move onto competitions once they feel they are ready to go head-to-head against experienced dancers.

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“Once (my sister) started dancing it made me want to dance,” Cara said.

According to Cara, she isn’t sure what initially drew her to the jingle dress. She said it just felt good when she was dancing.

According to Origins of the Jingle Dress Dance by Mark Thiel, the modern day jingle dress can trace its origins post-World War I, and the Spanish Influenza pandemic.

A young girl of the Ojibwa community of Whitefish Bay, Ont., fell ill to what was thought the Spanish flu. Her father received visions of a jingle dress dance, and its remedial powers. The sick, young girl experienced a miraculous recovery after a dance was performed and the dress was forever associated with health and healing.

Cara’s regalia was passed on by her cousin who is taking a short break from dancing. Because Brandy is still a new dancer, she is using regalia one of her friends passed along to her.

Both girls are on their own individual powwow trails. Cara has been travelling since the Sturgeon Lake competitive powwow, stopping in Ermineskin, Alexis, Onion Lake, and Endby. She said she hasn’t been home since the summer began, and still has her heart set on travelling to the United States to dance.

Brandy has been to Sturgeon Lake, Meadow Lake, Muskeg Lake, and Witchekan Lake powwows in her first season on the powwow trail. She said she wants to keep dancing through the summer season but hasn’t made any plans to follow a specific trail.

Bryan.Eneas@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @BryanEneas