DOWAGIAC — The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi is inviting the public to its ninth annual Oshke-Kno-Kewéwen Pow Wow, an annual celebration honoring Pokagon veterans and the community’s Eagle Staff. The gathering of traditional singing, dancing and culture will be held Saturday and Sunday, May 26 and 27 at the Pokagon Band’s pow wow arena, located at its Rodgers Lake campus, 58620 Sink Road, Dowagiac. Parking and admission are free.

Oshke-Kno-Kewéwen in the Potawatomi language refers to a new eagle staff, which is much like a national flag. The Pokagon Band veterans constructed two eagle staffs which hold dozens of eagle feathers, each representing a tribal family. This pow wow honors the staffs and the hundreds of Pokagon veterans and past tribal leaders represented on it.

The Grand Entries for the pow wow, which are the formal start of the dancing and songs, are at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday. On both mornings, the vendors will set up before the dancing starts; the gates to the pow wow grounds open at 10 a.m.

This event is considered a traditional pow wow. The Band’s long-running Kee-Boon-Mein-Kaa Pow Wow during Labor Day is a contest pow wow, where dancers compete before judges in different categories. A traditional pow wow is a less formal event focused on bringing the community together. Part family reunion, part traditional ceremony, a pow wow is a time for native people to celebrate their identity and to visit and share with their friends in the greater community; and for traditional drum groups to sing their songs, for tribal dancers to perform their steps, and for craftsmen and women to display their handiwork.

The Pokagon Band is involved in a number of events in the Michiana area. The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians’ sovereignty was reaffirmed under legislation signed into law by President Clinton in September of 1994. The Pokagon Band is dedicated to providing community development initiatives such as housing, education, family services, medical care and cultural preservation for its approximately 5,000 citizens. The Pokagon Band’s 10-county service area includes four counties in southwestern Michigan and six in northern Indiana. Its main administrative offices are located in Dowagiac, with a satellite office in South Bend.

In 2007, it opened Four Winds Casino Resort in New Buffalo, followed by Four Winds Hartford in 2011 and Four Winds Dowagiac in 2013. Four Winds South Bend opened Jan. 16, 2018.  It owns and operates a variety of businesses via Mno-Bmadsen, the tribe’s non-gaming investment enterprise. More information is available at pokagonband-nsn.gov, fourwindscasino.com and mno-bmadsen.com.