Published September 12. 2022 07:54AM
Native American culture was on display Saturday and Sunday at Mauch Chunk Lake Park.
A pow wow, hosted by the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania, attracted several dozen Native Americans. They were from various tribes and wore traditional attire as they performed ceremonial dances.
During some of their circle dances, spectators participated. Men, women and children joined the Native Americans as they circled around a roped-area, dancing to the beat of pelt-covered drums.
The event was attended by hundreds of people on Saturday, but rain kept the crowds down on Sunday.
Among the highlights was a hoop dance by two local performers, Joachin “Star Cloud” Wuebber of Brodheadsville and Matt “White Eagle” Clair of Weatherly. Both are considered among the top hoop dancers on the East Coast.
White Eagle danced with 28 hoops simultaneously while Star Cloud used 22 hoops. The hoops swirled on their arms, legs, hips and neck during their routines. At the end of their respective dances, each man peeled their hoops one at a time and enjoined them to create atom-shaped balls.
Star Cloud, a graduate of Pleasant Valley High School and Bloomsburg University, returned home recently after living the past two years in Scottsdale, Arizona. His father, Don “Wild Eagle” Wuebber, has been a local booster of his Native American heritage for many years and attended the pow wow to watch the two dancers perform.
A member of the Maricopa Pima Tribe of Arizona, Star Cloud said he has doing Native American dances since he was three or four years old and has been working with hoops the past five or six years.
Star Cloud said, “It’s good to see all the people I grew up with at one spot.”
White Eagle, a…