This weekend’s biannual St David’s pow wow will honour Alice Lopez, a member of the Wampanoag Mashpee tribe of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, who was instrumental in helping many Bermudians find their way back to their ancestral Native American roots.‘The Bermuda Pow Wow A Celebration of our Ancestors’ will be held this Saturday and Sunday at the St David’s Cricket Club grounds and will include a special ceremony to honour Ms Lopez in addition to the traditional Native American dancing, singing, crafts and food.Ms Lopez died suddenly on New Year’s Day at 49 years old. She had attended every pow wow held in Bermuda since 2002. She often helped coordinate things from the US, as the pow wow is usually attended by many Native Americans there and in the Caribbean.“She was our go-to person,” pow wow committee chairman Nives Filice said. “We will be honouring her with songs and drumming and prayers. Members of her family will be coming down for the pow wow. During the pow wow they will be called up to say something, if they wish. We were all very close to her, and she also hosted many Bermudians when they visited the Mashpee Wampanoag in the United States.”Ms Lopez was a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Singers and Dancers group. In April 2010, she came to Bermuda to teach traditional Eastern tribal songs to Bermudians of Native American heritage.“She was our advisor, our mentor, our teacher and our friend,” said Mrs Filice. “She was not only a huge loss to us but also to the Mashpee Wampanoag people. She was what they call a traditional woman. She really embraced the Wampanoag culture. She learned all the traditional crafts and dances and songs and made her own regalia. Her best friend Jessie Little Doe Baird is reviving the language. There was a documentary made about it recently called ‘We Still Live Here’ by Anne Makepeace. It was really interesting.”St Clair (Brinky) Tucker, has researched Bermuda’s connections with various tribes and nations in the United States, and has been instrumental in helping other Bermudians to learn more about their Native American heritage. He said: “Alice was not only highly respected here, but also amongst her tribe. She was a strong advocate of making sure that Indians who were homeless had a roof over their heads. She was the director of housing for her tribe for many years.”Saturday’s grand opening is followed by a libation ceremony an event that honours the dead at 12.30pm. A ceremony in honour of Ms Lopez will begin at 1.30pm. The day will then continue with various traditional dances, a performance by the Warwick Gombeys and food and crafts displays. Sunday will run along a similar pattern.The master of ceremonies this year will be Earl (Chiefy) Mills, Jr of the Mashpee Wampanoag. He will decide which dances are danced and inform pow wow goers of pow wow etiquette such as not taking pictures. There will be two drumming groups the Shinnecock Nations Young Bloods Drums and the Mashpee Wampanoag Wakeby Lake Drums. The Mashpee Wampanog Singers and Dancers will lead social dances.“I think we have about 100 Native Americans coming in total to this event to celebrate,” said Mrs Filice. “We will have some inter-tribal dances where everyone in the public can get up and dance.“We will have various exhibition dances like blanket dances and Eastern war dances. We may do a fancy shawl dance there are so many possibilities.”The event was sponsored by Colonial Insurance, Belco, Miles Market and Government.“With the economy being what it is right now, we had a hard time finding sponsorship,” said Mrs Filice.“So we are very grateful to our sponsors. Part of our mission is to educate Bermudians on our Native American ancestry. Many people know about our English and black ancestry, but a lot of people don’t know any detail about the Native American ancestry, particularly the tribal lineages that we come from. Brinky, through his research, has discovered about nine tribes that we are possibly descendants of. Although people from St David’s were often referred to as ‘Mohawks’ in a derogatory way, we haven’t found any evidence of Mohawks being brought to Bermuda.”She said a pow wow is meant to be about healing and bringing communities together.“You join in the circle,” she said. “The drums are the heartbeat of the pow wow. When you are in the circle you say prayers and you acknowledge your ancestors, and everyone comes together in fellowship to heal. The drumming is always going because it uplifts you. It is a very spiritual and sacred event. We will have a fire in the circle for the first time this year.“There will be six flags at the event including Shinnecock, Narragansett, Pequot, Wampanoag, Cherokee and us. Part of grand entry is you carry the flags in. That is significant because it is the unification of everyone coming together to celebrate and to heal.”‘The Bermuda Pow Wow A Celebration of our Ancestors’ will run from 11am to 5pm each day. Tickets are $8 for adults and $4 for seniors and children. For more information e-mail pstinesraynor[AT]northrock.bm or telephone 541-7777. The group is also on Facebook under St David’s Islanders and Native Community. To see a trailer of the documentary ‘We Still Live Here’ visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocUjqjZbo_s .