One Little, Two Little, Three Little Indians

Make that three hundred little Indians!  Today we loaded up and headed to Kinder, Louisiana, for the annual Coushatta Indian Pow Wow.  Between the Indian fry bread, the costumes with beautifully intricate beadwork, and the kettle drums and singing, we had a feast for our stomachs, eyes, and ears! Here are a few pictures from our day:

The picture just doesn't do it justice.  You had to be there to hear the singing.  It was amazing!  And I wonder if they know the meaning of the words they're singing, or if they're just singing what they've heard their parents and grandparents sing. 

This is one of the kettle drums.  There were approximately 10 men hitting the drum at the same time, and they managed to stay completely in sync—even when they would speed up and slow back down.

One of the many amazing costumes there.

When the dance competition began, the groups came out by region.  Every costume was unique, but the costumes for each region had a distinct "look."  For example, this group wore the feathers in a circle shape on their backs.

This group didn't have large feathers like the one above, but they all the fabric strip hanging from the back of their costumes.

The guy in the front was so fun to watch!  He had a little "soul" to his movements!  ;)

This is one of the dancers from the group above.  When I saw them from a distance, I thought they had feathers on their heads.  But when he sat down in front of us after his dance, we could see that it was actually fur!  It's hard to imagine the handiwork that goes into creating something like this!

These costumes were much bigger and brighter than what I typically picture when I think of Indians.  They were fun to watch when they danced, though.  Their drummers had those kettle drums going fast, and they had to keep up.  Then when the music stopped, they had to immediately stop with it.

Again, a still shot just doesn't do it justice.  This is when they were moving really fast.

Finally, the ladies came out.

I wish I was able to zoom in a little better to get more detail in the pictures.  If only there was some way for me to subtly let people who love me know that a Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III Telephoto Zoom Lens would make a great Christmas present.  Hmmm . . . there must be some way to share that information with them . . . hmmm . . .