The Flag

INDIGENOUS INSTITUTE of the AMERICAS

INSTITUTO INDIGENISTA de las AMERICAS

The Flag

It happens at very Indian pow-wow. The evening begins with a grand entry of all the dancers into the arena. The color guard leads with the eagle staff and the American flag, together with a state flag, military flags, and whatever other flags are appropriate for the occasion.  To this day, Eagle Staffs are considered the flag of the Plains People, and are carried in by the Elder Veteran of the Armed Forces.

Then there is a special flag song. This is the moment the American flag is honored by American Indians – in the way only Indians can do it.  It is a solemn sound, the flag song. Slow, majestic, and powerful. Everyone knows it. Everyone respects it. 

The American flag is the token of the great power, the great strength.  It is the glory of strength itself we see in the flag. We feel the power. That’s all. The raw strength.  Indians recognize strength. It is po-haw-cut, as the Comanche would say: Medicine.  Power. It is America. We sing and dance to America. We honor America’s strength in every flag song at every pow-wow.  Indians don’t say it in words, yet it’s there, deep within us. We have a thing for that American flag.

Not only do we honor it with prayerful song, we wear it! American flag themes have been woven into our dance regalia for decades. Indians wear the flag in dance, in our cultural celebrations. It fascinates us. It is a sacred thing to us, not an article of daily dress.