Haunting flute whispers, rhythmic whistling and hypnotic drumbeats resonate in the Native American Festival. The field is adorned with an encampment of tents, where the campers create tribal instruments and art. They size and connect wooden bamboo pipes, creating panpipe wind instruments, which they then decorate with vivid Indian patterns. They weave threads in intricate designs inside colorful hoops, dangling feathers and beads to produce their own breathtaking dream-catchers. Campers paint Native American keepsake boxes, sew together fringed beaded pouches, decorate totem poles in geometric patterns and feathers, fashion their own drums, dance rattles and rain-sticks. They also design arrowhead necklaces and amulets.
Across the field is a bonfire. Campers encircle the crackling blaze on tree stumps, holding an assortment of taut drums. Led by the ceremony master, Drum Man George, they bang mallets in tribal beats. Campers’ husked corn is wrapped in foil then tossed into the fire to cook. Above the hissing flames, the air rises in hazy waves as the beat picks up in tempo, faster and faster, culminating in a dramatic swelling crescendo.
-T