The Indian Guides Pow Wow was an annual event in which 8 year old boys recreated an Indian village complete with Indian dress, spear, shields and war paint. We made (or at least our parents made) an actual teepee and a totem pole in addition to our "authentic" Indian garb....or should I say "native American garb". In looking back, this was politically incorrect on so many levels. We ran around speaking in fake Indian tongues..."Me want wompum or me scalp white man" and raising our right hand and saying, "How!" when we'd meet another of our tribe.
My Indian name was "Little Iron Star" and I still have the wooden plaque which I made using thumb tacks to spell out my name....very cool! The hair was a particularly attractive and authentic part of the whole personna and was made of coarse and very itchy black wool and was braided. I think we look quite fearsome... Custer met his match with this tribe. Everyone got in on the act, even Squaw Woman, KJ and Lou. Where's RJ?
My Indian name was "Little Iron Star" and I still have the wooden plaque which I made using thumb tacks to spell out my name....very cool! The hair was a particularly attractive and authentic part of the whole personna and was made of coarse and very itchy black wool and was braided. I think we look quite fearsome... Custer met his match with this tribe. Everyone got in on the act, even Squaw Woman, KJ and Lou. Where's RJ?
My recollection of the Indian Guides, while not in conflict with yours, is different. I actually do not remember the events or any of the fun club insider stuff. What I remember are the costumes. Notice that mom made costumes for all of us, regardless of the fact that the club was just for 8 year old boys. These costumes lived on far longer that any memberships in the club. I can’t recall exactly where mom kept the costumes, but do remember the smell. I remember opening the box or whatever and being hit by the odor of stinky canvas tents. Every Halloween you can guess what I was. Having sizes ranging from about a 5 to about 14, there was no escaping the heavy cracking makeup, itchy wig and smelly costume for years! In all fairness, there was the occasional option of being a ghost or a hobo, but usually the Indian won out. It did not end there, I remember wearing it to school. This must have been for some report I had to give on Indians. Surely I was encouraged to do my report on Indians because we had these GREAT costumes. Don’t get me wrong, I did not fight wearing the Indian get-up as I was convinced that these were truly authentic and endured the discomfort with a sort of pride. Yep, you boys remember the fun club and making cool signs ~ me, not so much. By the way, I would not be surprised if somewhere lurking in the depths of mom’s house they still survive!
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised she didn't make a papoose for you to squeeze into....or a horse costume for dad and a travois to haul us around. But yes, it was fun and we really did think we were just like real Indians. I even think they made their shields out of an old oil drum top just like ours....
ReplyDeleteIndian Guides was a work-release programs for moms before Scouts whereby dads would take the young savages to a meeting with other kids and dads. We would make group projects such as totem pole. You would carve out a section at home, paint it and bring it back. Then everyone would stack them together. Some very good ( lotsa dad help) and others raw kid talent ( crap).My indian name was "Bright Star"- so much for the dreams and hopes of mom and dad....
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