I'd planned on going fishing this past weekend but wound up instead in Council Grove, Kansas, at a Native American dance exhibition held by the Kaw Nation. It was a great time, fun was had by all, and to make a long story short, I'm now engaged to a beautiful Indian princess. I'll get to that shortly, but first some background.

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The Kanza Indians, also known as the Kaw or Konza or Kansas, call themselves the People of the South Wind, or simply the Wind People.  They're a Dhegiha Siouan tribe, closely related to the Osage, Omaha, Ponca and Quapaw, all of whom moved west with the Kanza from the Ohio Valley sometime in the 17th century.

 "The Surround" by George Catlin

By the time the first French trappers and traders came into the territories beyond the Missouri River, the Kanza were thriving there in the wooded creek valleys and tallgrass prairies, a beautiful, rich land half earth and half sky. At that time they were nearly 2,000 strong and were a force to be reckoned with in the region. They brought with them from the east a tradition of growing corn and beans and squash, but more important to their way of life were the limitless herds of bison which roamed the plains. Each summer they'd migrate west for the annual bison hunt, then return to their villages in northeastern Kansas for the winter.

A prairie horizon on what used to be Kanza land.

By the early 19th century the Kanza were under mounting pressure from white settlement, and their territory was steadily whittled away, from 20,000,000 acres to 2,000,000 acres to a 256,000 acre reservation centered on Council Grove. The tribe's numbers underwent a sharp decline during this period due to smallpox, starvation, and other factors. By the time the last of their lands were stripped away and they were forced to move to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) in 1873,  there were only 500 or so left to make the journey. In their new home the population continued to decline, and by 1888 they numbered less than 200.  It was assumed by many observers that the Kanza would soon be extinct, but  after their nadir in the late 1800s their  numbers stabilized and began to rise. Today there are over 3,000 registered members of the Kaw Nation, many of whom maintain a strong connection to traditional ways.

Which is why I wound up in Council Grove this weekend. I've been to a couple of the annual Kanza dances there, held at the old Kaw Indian Mission, and they're always a great time. This year was no exception.

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A couple of Kanza men. I'm assuming they're Kanza anyway, though people from other tribes were also present. Many of these guys are large, imposing figures; I can imagine the dismay a Pawnee or other enemy might have experienced back in the day as a band of Kaw warriors came over the hill, looking to count coup and worse.

Luther Pepper, a member of the executive council of the Kaw Nation. Mr. Pepper gave a moving prayer before the dancing began.

Elegance in brass bells.

One of the younger participants. The first night's dancing was mainly for the women and kids; the following night featured the men.

Not everyone was in tribal dress, but everyone was included in the fun. 

The singers/drummers during a break between dances. The drums are the backbone of the pow wow, and these men never missed a beat.

More elegance.

Color and motion.

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Relaxing after the pow wow. As you can see in this pic, I'm eating for two these days.

After the dancing was over we wound up on the verandah of the Cottage House Hotel, enjoying a few beers and a cool breeze after the scorching heat of the day. It turned out that most of the hotel was booked by Kanza who'd driven up from Oklahoma to take part in the pow wow, and in short order we were having a fascinating conversation with several Kaw women who were also enjoying the evening air. We talked for hours about history and politics and family and pretty much everything else, and I learned how to properly tan a bison hide - it turns out that deer brains are the key. Rarely have I met such warm, down to earth people, and rarely have I laughed so much. These Kanza ladies, in addition to being beautiful and smart and outgoing, laughed and joked as naturally as breathing, and nothing was off limits for their sense of humor. Not only did they make fun of  each other (and me) mercilessly, but anyone passing by on the street or the sidewalk was a potential target for harassment, including bikers and Indians and cowboys and people out partying after the bar on Main Street had closed. At one point, as some local teens piled into a pickup truck, including a girl being made to ride in the truck bed, my new friends yelled out "Hey sister, don't let 'em make you ride back there, yank one of them boys out and get in front!" She did too.  Not long after, a cop parked across the street and got out of his car, doing something or other in the alley, and to my alarm even he received a chorus of catcalls and wolf whistles. Every time I expressed concern at these events, I was told I didn't need to worry, I was their token white boy and they'd protect me no matter what happened.

Anyway, somehow during the course of the evening I wound up engaged to one of  my charming and lovely Kanza friends. I'll call her Little C and leave it at that; it wouldn't be seemly to divulge her identity 'til after the nuptials. The marriage isn't official until I return with a ring costing a minimum of seventy dollars, which I surmise is what two ponies or nine blankets cost in olden times.  As you may imagine I'm pretty jazzed about it, though also a little concerned. I'll keep you up to date as the situation develops.

Wildflowers  at the Allegawaho Memorial Heritage Park a few miles south of Council Grove. On the hill in the distance you can see the Monument to the Unknown Kanza Warrior. It was built by locals in the 1920s after rains exposed the burial site of a Kaw chief near by, complete with his weapons and his horse. The remains were re-interred in the stone spire as a memorial to the people who gave our state and many of its cities and streams their names. The land around the monument, which includes the old Kaw agency building, ruins of stone huts built for the tribe by the federal government, and other points of interest, was purchased by the Kaw Nation in 2000 and now includes a two mile loop hiking trail, with other developments in the works.