Abraham Hanson, the head male dancer in this year’s Traditional Pow Wow at Heritage High School, first met Louis Fletcher as he was helping free Fletcher’s vehicle from a snow drift.
“That’s the kind of person I found him to be,” said Fletcher. “Someone who wants to help.”
This wasn’t wimpy local snow, like we’ve been having lately — the kind that melts in a day or two as temperatures float above freezing. This was the dangerously frigid, harsh stuff you find on the west coast of Alaska, near the mouth of the Yukon River. That’s where Hanson, whose heritage is Yupik Eskimo, spent his life until last fall: a remote village called Alakanuk, nearly 500 miles west of Anchorage.
According to the U.S. Census, the population of Alakanuk is just under 800 people. No roads touch the village, which is situated “among a maze of watercourses” and reached by a small airplane every week or two. Some people there subsist by fishing and trapping, but unemployment is very high. So are social ills such as alcoholism and suicide.
If You Go
•What: Annual Traditional Pow Wow featuring drumming, dancing, regalia, song, artisans and food.
•When: Noon to 10 p.m. March 3. Grand entries: 1 and 6 p.m.
•Where: Heritage High School, 7825 N.E. 130th Ave., Vancouver.
• Admission: Free.
That’s why 19-year-old Hanson, who loves to help, decided to ask for some from Louis and Katie Fletcher, who were on Christian mission to Alakanuk. Katie Fletcher has gone on to take a seasonal teaching job up there; Louis Fletcher lives full time in Hazel Dell because his health isn’t great and medical care is accessible here, he said.
That works out well for Hanson, who has been living in Hazel Dell with Louis Fletcher this year while finishing his education at Columbia River High School. After he graduates, Hanson said, he might head for the military or a job working with heavy machinery.
Mountains and subways
The coastal land that Hanson hails from is very flat and, when it unfreezes, moist and muddy; he said he was amazed to find himself living in the jagged, mountainous Pacific Northwest (but hasn’t had a chance to explore the Columbia River Gorge or Mount Hood yet).
That’s one of many things that are different here, he said. Diet is another. Where he comes from, moose and fish are staples; deli sandwiches are not. Louis Fletcher said the first time he took Hanson to a Subway sandwich shop, it was a strange and iffy experience. Now, Hanson is bullish on Subway.
He’s always been bullish on basketball, too, and a few weeks ago, Hanson enjoyed his first professional basketball game, with the Trail Blazers at the Moda Center in Portland. The extravaganza of special effects in the arena was “pretty awesome,” he said. “A whole different feeling.”
Now, Hanson’s special dancing regalia has arrived from Alaska, and he’s getting ready for the Pow Wow. Where he comes from, he said, similar festivities are called potlatches; he’s been dancing in them since 2014.
“Happiness” is what he feels when he’s dancing, he said. “It just feels good.”
Noisy pride
What is a powwow? It’s a colorful, noisy, prideful, joyous-yet-serious gathering of Native Americans to dance, drum and share their culture with one another — and with you. Everyone is welcome to attend and take in all the spectacle.
“It’s all day long, and it’s free. You can come and go as you please,” said organizer Dave Jollie.
In the Heritage High School gym, different styles of traditional dancers sporting different styles of regalia will take the floor all day March 3 to demonstrate how their inner spirit translates into colorful movement and footwork, while visiting drum groups take turns singing and driving the big, booming beat. In the school cafeteria, vendors will offer traditional crafts and foods, and there’s also a raffle; proceeds will help support Native American students and families in Clark County through ongoing monthly cultural events and family nights.
There will be dinner break and hand drum contest at 5 p.m. Don’t miss at least one of the two solemn and spectacular Grand Entry parades, scheduled for 1 and 6 p.m. That’s when everyone involved marches in, led by military veterans and elders bearing tribal, American and state flags. It’s hard not to be moved by this very special moment.
