Grand Entry - 2026 Gathering of Nations Pow Wow - Powwows.com

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]Gentlemen, please stand and rise as we honor the Black Eagle Singers and the Aupa family as we welcome in the Buffalo Dancers.

[00:00:19]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> To the first direction, to the east.

[00:01:17]Bless yourself.

[00:01:23]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> To the next direction, to the south, bless yourself.

[00:02:12]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> To the direction of the west, bless yourself.

[00:03:06]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> As they make that full circle of life, ladies and gentlemen, the blessings of the buffalo and the four legged for all of us is why we're here for many tribes.

[00:03:42]Let's show them some support and love for their beautiful energy, ladies and gentlemen.

[00:03:56]>> [music] >> To our fourth direction, to the north, bless yourself.

[00:04:10]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Thank you, Black Eagle and the Yeba family.

[00:05:11]And now, ladies and gentlemen, we call upon the invited drums for our Saturday Night Live Gathering as we welcome into the arena our Eagle staff.

[00:05:30]>> [music] >> Ladies and gentlemen, right here is a young man that is inspired to do good things in our very Indian country.

[00:05:39]We want to acknowledge right here a young man that brings forward a powerful energy for our young youth and our relations.

[00:05:54]Let's acknowledge our very eagle staff carrier for the final grand entry.

[00:05:59]It's Xavier Little Head.

[00:06:07]And right behind our very eagle [music] staff carrier that we welcome here to the final grand entry of Gathering Nations.

[00:06:14]Let's welcome for all the beautiful ladies that gave their time to our very entity [music] of gatherings. Let's acknowledge with a warm heart and a very [music] loud roar for our Miss Indian World Pageant.

[00:06:36]>> [music] >> One more time we'd like to welcome them into the grand entry, our headman and our head lady.

[00:06:49]Introducing from Newtown, North Dakota, John Poncho Brady and the Mrs. Rebecca Two Kettle Brady, headman, head lady.

[00:07:02]We'd also like to welcome into our grand entry the procession of the Matthews family, the coordinator, the backbone of the Gathering of Nations celebration, Melanie Matthews and Lauren Gooday.

[00:07:25]What you're going to witness tonight to all of our friends and family out in [music] the audience, everyone watching from home, you're going to see all of our people and indigenous relations of Mother Earth come together as one because here on this very Mother [music] Earth as caretakers, it's our responsibility to always celebrate diversity.

[00:07:48]If you believe in equality and celebrate diversity, ladies and gentlemen, skoden!

[00:07:56]>> [cheering] >> That very moment when you just came to these dancers with fulfilled a spirit to all of us. Remember that this drum is a heartbeat of our nation, heartbeat of our tribes, First Nations. There was never a border on Turtle Island.

[00:08:15]From Mexico to United States and Canada, there's more than 100 First Nations of Canada, more than 580 tribes in the United States, and more than 50 tribes of Mexico. We are all created equal, and if you believe in it, let's hear you make some noise!

[00:08:34]>> [music] [music] [music] >> Right behind our starting dignitaries, we have our very warm bonnet dancers.

[00:09:03]The warriors, the ones that bring stories, hold that fireplace close to our Mother Earth. Ladies and gentlemen, let's acknowledge our golden age men, 60 years and older. Ladies and gentlemen, show them some love!

[00:09:17]>> [screaming] [music] >> There's going to be emotions here [music] tonight.

[00:09:30]A lot of us have a connection to this very grand entry.

[00:09:34]And this very song right [music] here, from year after year brought us all together. Everyone in the back, everyone [music] at the top bleachers, right here at the bottom floor. If you love it, make some noise!

[00:10:01]>> [music] [screaming] >> You know, at one time [music] the government tried to take away our songs, our language, [music] our ceremonies, because we had a power, we had a very energy that they couldn't see, [music] understand. But why we're here today is because our ancestors prayed for this moment. [music] They prayed for all of us to be one, because a strong community raises a strong family, and a strong family raises powerful children. Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, let's acknowledge our matriarchs, our grandmothers, our mothers, our aunties, our sisters, welcoming in women's golden age. [screaming] Ladies and gentlemen, show them some love!

[00:11:03]>> [cheering] [music] [music] [music] >> Once again, ladies and gentlemen, we welcome in our champion dancers from Indian country, US and Canada.

[00:11:44]Welcome, dancers.

[00:11:47]We welcome in our champions in the golden age, our senior division.

[00:11:52]Welcome.

[00:11:53]Welcome.

[00:11:55]Shout out local history.

[00:12:00]>> [music] [screaming] >> Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, coming before the announcer stand are the golden age women traditional, buckskin cloth, applique, medicine dress.

[00:12:23]These ladies right here truly walk and dance in honor [music] and beauty. They grace us with their beautiful style of a dance. How about a round of applause for the [music] beautiful women traditional?

[00:12:38]Welcome. Welcome.

[00:12:52]We are represented by tribal greatness, my friends.

[00:12:57]Each and every one of our beautiful women and the men wearing their special dress regalia, the attire, the gift and legacy of our ancestors and forefathers left us, the gift of song and dance.

[00:13:13]We come together on a beautiful night to express ourselves freely, as we have been gifted and blessed, my friends.

[00:13:22]Ladies and gentlemen, if you love this beautiful pow wow singing and dancing.

[00:13:28]Albuquerque, warm it up one more time.

[00:13:34]>> [music] >> What a beautiful sight coming in. Great entry on a Saturday night.

[00:14:04]Come on in, dance your style. Making it look good. That's what we want to see.

[00:14:10]Bring it in, dance it in.

[00:14:18]>> [music] [music] >> We'd like to welcome all of our beautiful women jingle dress dancers.

[00:15:11]Representing travel nations >> 43 years of intertribal tradition right in front of you right here, ladies and gentlemen. One more again, make some noise. Let them know you appreciate them.

[00:15:36]>> [screaming] >> Audience, where's all my people that can whistle? Whistle for me.

[00:15:53]>> [music] >> Grandma said don't whistle at night.

[00:16:05]Albuquerque, you are awesome, man. That is deadly. Good one.

[00:16:13]Woo ha! All right. There's my quarterback, Thor. Come on, bring it on in. Dance in style, boys. Woo ha!

[00:16:22]Looking good, looking good. One of the most beautiful, colorful sights you'll see in all of North America. Bring it on in. Bring it on in.

[00:16:31]Woo ha!

[00:16:34]>> [music] >> Oh, man, jingle dress dancers, you're sounding loud and proud, girls. They can hear those jingles all the way down in Phoenix, Arizona. Woo ha!

[00:16:59]That's what I like to see. Wes Nigel jumping out. There you go, tearing it up.

[00:17:05]>> [music] >> Dancers, move to the middle. Dancers, move to the middle.

[00:17:10]Ladies and gentlemen, you're seeing representation [music] of many tribes from all over Turtle Island. The most powerful sight in the world. You're going to witness here tonight. If you came here to get a healing, you came here to get that drum feeling. Ladies and gentlemen, if you love what you see, let's hear you scream.

[00:17:47]>> [music] [music] >> Everybody coming on in. The drums are going. The bells are banging. That's what we want to call home and sound.

[00:18:06]Indigenous relatives.

[00:18:10]You come from one of the most beautiful historic world, powerful traditions and cultures in the entire world. If you are proud of that as an indigenous person, let us hear you.

[00:18:29]We are still here. We are victorious people.

[00:18:34]They tried everything to take all of this from us. We still have all of this. Hot cha.

[00:18:54]Ladies and gentlemen, they're still coming into the arena as we welcome in our champion dancers.

[00:19:00]From the north, from the northeast, from the east, from the southeast, from the south.

[00:19:15]>> Once again there, ladies and gentlemen, our dancers have been dancing for more than 15 minutes. Let's bring that thunder to life. Let's bring life right here in this building and the Tingley Coliseum. Put your hands together. Make some noise.

[00:19:31]>> [screaming] >> What kind of energy we got right here?

[00:19:41]Yea, cha.

[00:19:52]At this time, we're bringing in our youth dancers ages 17 years and under [music] as they make their way in.

[00:19:59]These are just our adult categories for our groups in the teens, 17 years and under. Welcome teen girls teen girl fancy traditional and of course welcome teen boys grass, chicken fancy semi traditional, and you know what? Our fancy war dancers. What that means, let's hear some love and good energy for our children.

[00:20:24]Let's hear you.

[00:20:26]>> [music] [music] >> As many people are in this building, maybe you came here to watch a dancer, hear a drum, maybe you know a Native American family. And if you do, show them some love and good energy.

[00:20:48]>> [screaming] >> As our final grand entry has taken place here, let's acknowledge [music] once again our great young man here that brought in our eagle staff for the final time.

[00:21:14]Let's give it up right here for Nick Xavier Littlehead.

[00:21:28]>> [music] >> Ladies and gentlemen, how about a round of applause one more time?

[00:21:48]I'd like to ask our dancers out of honor and respect on behalf of our staffs to kindly remain inside the arena.

[00:21:56]We're going to ask our brother Tim E Eagle Shoppe to stand by for our prayer.

[00:22:01]You know, you beautiful people, we get to travel to powwows all across North America and hear beautiful grand entries and watch the dancers as they come in. Look at the beauty in our women here, the regalia on the men.

[00:22:15]I've shared this before.

[00:22:18]When I came back home from the service, I went to the Menominee Nation Powwow in Wisconsin.

[00:22:24]A legendary announcer at that time was on the mic by the name of Henry Green Crow.

[00:22:30]He shared something that inspired me as a young man coming back home from the service that I witnessed as a singer.

[00:22:39]He said, "This beautiful grand entry tonight, as we watch you dancers and listen to the singers, I looked at all the sacred colors represented in our dresses, in the regalia, the yellow, the red, the black, the white, representing the four quarters of the universe, the four races of mankind.

[00:23:05]And when I watch the grand entry come together tonight, truly we have to be one of the most beautiful races of people on the face of this earth. How about a round of applause one more time, Albuquerque?

[00:23:25]And now at this time we're going to call upon one of our head staff, a champion, legendary traditional dancer, a spiritual man, a man who's put a lifetime in this arena helping people through song and dance and ceremony. I'd like to ask my brother at this time, Mr. Timothy Eashappie from Carry the Kettle, Saskatchewan, if he'd be so kind