If you have received a tribal scholarship recently, I’m sure you are extremely grateful for the financial relief it provides. If you’re lucky, you might have encountered the band of devoted employees behind each check. Charles Clark, Spring Cleveland and Kristen McGirt in the CPN Tribal Rolls Department have demonstrated incredible patience and attention to detail as they processed endless applications for tribal olls scholarships. At the Read More »
Often seen as the penultimate event of the CPN Family Reunion Festival, the Citizen Potawatomi Powwow draws participants and audience members alike to the dance arena after a long two days of activities. Though it may appear free flowing for a first time viewer, the dances and structure of the event builds on hundreds of years of traditions for Native American ceremonial celebrations. All Citizen Read More »
CPN’s progress on new construction and upgrades to existing facilities will be on full display at Festival 2016. From FireLake Wellness Center to FireLake Express Grocery’s newest location, the development of tribal facilities continues to grow. FireLake Golf Course is undergoing a full renovation. The back nine greens have been elevated and a new drainage system was installed to relieve the stagnant water issue in many of Read More »
This year at Festival we will have two games of shishibe or Potawatomi Bingo. This was a hit last year so we are going to play games on Friday at 5 p.m. and Saturday at noon. We will also be having a children’s Potawatomi language class at 2 p.m. on Saturday and an immersion Potawatomi class at 10 a.m. on Saturday. We hope you will Read More »
The Cultural Heritage Center is one of tribal members’ favorite places to visit during Festival. Visitors will be in for a treat as they will see the many changes that have taken place during the past year and get a preview of what is to come. We sat down with CHC Director Kelli Mosteller, Ph.D., to learn more about what we can Read More »
Bozho,The CPN Veterans Organization has been very busy with color guard and honor guard events while planning for the June Festival and July Gathering for this year. One project that David Barrett and I have worked on is the new veterans’ t-shirt that will be available at both events. Included in this report is a picture of that new t-shirt. The eagle on the front Read More »
If you live in Oklahoma, you have probably heard the tagline, “Is this a great state or what?” for the better part of 25 years thanks to News Channel 4’s Galen Culver. Culver produces television segments that feature unique small town people, places, stories and celebrations. I use this tagline to emphasize that Oklahoma is a great state to call home. With 39 tribal Nations in Read More »
Summertime is here and school is out, but the students participating in the PLACE program continue to learn skills and about Native American culture. This June, the tribal youth will learn to experience several aspects of life. With Family Reunion Festival coming up in June and Gathering of Potawatomi Nations in July, the youth were taught powwow etiquette, as they will be volunteering during these events. Read More »
In the more than four decades since the first Potawatomi Intertribal Powwow took place, many a June headline have been written welcoming Citizen Potawatomi home to Shawnee. It has been written in many incarnations, but this year marks the first front page headline written in Potawatomi. It’s a rough translation, but the spirit is the same in the tribe’s native tongue in saying “Welcome to your Read More »
Since 1972, the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, or as it was known until 1996, the Citizen Band Potawatomi, have hosted a late-June celebration of Native American culture. The inception of what was then an intertribal powwow and general council meeting started off as a way to enhance Native traditions amongst Potawatomi and address the governmental business of the tribe. The tribal government’s newspaper, this publication, has chronicled the Read More »