Northland College Hosts 43rd Annual Indigenous Cultures Week

Northland College in Ashland is hosting a number of events for the 43rd Annual Indigenous Cultures Week during March 13-18.

Kat Werchouski, director of the Indigenous Cultures Center at Northland College, said the week of events will include speakers and presentations with a focus on indigenous cultures across the globe. She said there are a variety of things they hope people will take away from the events.

“It’s exposure to other cultures, other messages, other world views and experiences. I think it’s also an opportunity for people to come together and think about culture and similarities between indigenous populations around the world, as well as what we would today classify as non-indigenous people,” she said. “But to kind of bring in the whole idea that we all share similar stories in some way in our history.”

Werchouski said tribes from Canada, the Dakotas and tribes from the Midwest come to the spring powwow.

“We always have tribes from the tri-state area from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin that are coming,” she said. “And usually we have a representation from at least most of the Ojibwe tribes. Then, we actually usually have Ho Chunk come up, as well as Oneida and Menominee consider coming this way.”

Werchouski said the powwow is a time for healing and for people to celebrate the change of seasons and the awakening of earth with dancers and drums. The spring powwow will be begin on Saturday with the first grand entrance at 1 p.m.