The University of Oklahoma’s Ruggles Native American Music Series recently invited Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s women’s drumming group, De’Wegen Kwek (Our Women’s Drum), to share traditional and contemporary Potawatomi singing and drumming. De’Wegen Kwek was the first group comprised entirely of women to be featured in the Ruggles series.
Tradition encourages women to play smaller hand drums, roughly a foot in diameter or less, either on their own or with the men. Every week, several Citizen Potawatomi Nation women gather to practice.
The Kwek Society’s work positively influences women and girls across the continent every day. Because of this, the sisters’ personal experience and their connections as Bourbonnais and Tescier descendants inspired them to complete the moon time bag project, making hundreds of satchels to assist fellow Native American women and girls.
During this episode, we’ll learn the basics of handgames played every year at Family Reunion Festival, practice with CPN’s women’s drum group, and meet the 2019 Potawatomi Leadership Program class.