Hello, I am The Park Wife and I am a tradition junkie. (Let me hear you say "Hello Park Wife"). I was raised in Mississippi with many wonderful Southern holiday traditions and have added a few as I married and started my own family. However, I found out that there is such thing as tradition overload.
I live on an Arkansas State Park, love the simplicity of my life, and am trying to keep the holidays from getting out of hand, so I have chosen the traditions that speak to our family and have thrown out the rest.
A couple of years ago, I started a tradition with our two little buckaroos that is wonderful for character training, a history lesson (we are homeschoolers), and it helps to de-clutter before the holidays. Now that is a win-win tradition that fits our life perfectly, it is THE GIVING POW WOW.
In Native American culture, true wealth comes from sharing with others instead of amassing material wealth. The gesture of giving illustrates selflessness while it strengthens the community bond. The gesture is more important than the value of the gift. Now, that is something I want our boys to understand and embrace.
This year we invited some other families to join in on the fun of our Giving Pow Wow. All the kids cleaned out their closets of toys that were still in good shape and brought them to our volunteer fire station/community library wearing full Native American regalia.
We sat in a circle around the treasures we would donate to a local charity and the festivities began. The children were given a history of pow wows and of the tribes from our area, that fulfilled history class for the day. Also, several of the children shared what they know about the Native American culture from sign language to the meaning of face paint colors. We then all held hands and prayed for the recipients of our gifts, that their lives would somehow be better from our act of generosity.
Plan your Giving Pow Wow today and give your children a shared past that they can pass on to future generations, a tradition that embodies the qualities of the person you hope them to be.
Tribal Trails
Thursday through Saturday, November 11-13, 2010.
Showtimes:
Thursday and Friday, November 11 and 12: 10:00am, noon and 2:00 p.m. on
Saturday November 13 11:30 a.m., 1:00 and 3:00 p.m.
The Pahsetopah family will share Native American heritage, including the technology of ancient cultures, through storytelling and dance.
Admission to Tribal Trails is FREE to the general public with museum admission. Group rates are available; for group reservations, contact Beth Nelsen at bnelsen@amod.org or 501-396-7061.
1 comment:
I just read the article written by Stephanie Buckley in regards to the "Giving Pow Wow". This is such a great way to start off the holiday season! I wish we lived there! I live in California and wish that our community here offered these experiences for our kids. With all of the choas the holiday season can bring, it is nice to know that organizations such as yours are showing and doing things to bring in calmness and and teaching children the importance of "giving right". I only homeschool one of my children, and if we had the opprotunity to attend something like this , we would! I also think it would be a great school field trip for the kids in your area!
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