The Mawio'mi was held over Saturday and Sunday on the Scotchfort reserve of Abegweit First Nation. I may be biased because some of my earliest memories are of my grandparents house which used to overlook the Hillsboro River, but I think it's a beautiful reserve.
A Mawiomi (gathering) building was built several years ago, which is where the pow wow grounds are located. There is a permanent arbour built for the drummers, and it's covered by fresh tree boughs every year. The pow wow committee did a great job organizing the host drums, lead dancers, emcee, food and all those other details which make for a great event. Unfortunately, the one thing they couldn't control was the weather, and it rained all day Saturday. And by "rain", I mean "poured buckets!!!!"
I had a screen tent which I had planned on putting up with a table underneath to sell my work. While it may be a simple, practical solution to the question of how to sell, it wasn't exactly weather proof. So while the drummers and dancing was moved inside the big white event tent, I headed into the Mawiomi building and a table in the corner.
I had a great time because I was able to sit in comfort and chat with everyone who wandered in. Luckily, most people wandered in to eat their Indian tacos and to visit the facilities so I actually had quite a bit of traffic.
I had a mix of hieroglyph and petroglyph work with only a few pieces based on the old quill baskets. In addition to the quillwork, I had also done some paintings using petroglyphs that I hadn't quilled before. Seeing those paintings in colour has inspired me to get right back to work because I can now imagine what the finished pieces will look like. I used to use only natural coloured quills (white) for the petroglyphs and it's taking some time to get used to seeing them with dyed quills. I had also made an eight-pointed star to raffle that proved to be a great success.
Sunday dawned bright and sunny, which was a relief for everyone involved. My mom headed off to ceremony in the morning which was great, but I forgot to take my things out of her car. Grand entry was at 1:00 but I was a bit late setting up because I had to wait for her to arrive. On the plus side, my husband and I were able to enjoy our Indian tacos at my table and watch a bit of the dancing.
The dancing was really great, and a big shout out goes to all the dancers and in particular Dion Bernard for his portrayal of the Glooscap legend via dance. It was amazing!
When it was time for the raffle, I had the emcee do the "last call" on tickets. The last one to be sold also proved to be the winner! Congrats to Barbara Bernard on her win...she said it was worth going to get her money for the ticket. lol.
I was also happy to finally be able to settle a debt. When my cousin Ashley was in nursing school I made a deal with her: when she graduated, I would give her some quillwork. I was finally able to settle up and I'm so proud of her!!!!
All said and done, it was a great weekend and I can't wait until next year!
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