A two-spirit powwow created a lively atmosphere at the Vernon Recreation Complex over the weekend.
Traditional Indigenous dances, including fancy and jingle dances, took place to the beat of drums Saturday, Sept. 14.
Aaron Mitchell, a two-spirit Syilx member of the Okanagan Indian Band, organized the powwow alongside Vernon Pride, an organization that advocates for 2SGLBTQIA+ individuals (the 2S stands for two-spirit).
Mitchell, a member of the Four Feathers Society, explained that two-spirit people have long had a place in Indigenous communities.
"Back in the day, two-spirited people were thought to have a male and female spirit within them, and a lot of the time they were shamans, medicine people, and people came to them for decisions because (they) could think with both spirits, not just male or just female," Mitchell said.
A booklet created by Four Feathers Society (a two-spirit advocacy group) was distributed at the event. The booklet contains information on the history of two-spirit people. It says the term two-spirit was first used in 1990 at the Intertribal Native American/First Nations Gay and Lesbian Conference in Winnipeg.
"It comes from the Ojibwe words niizh manitoag (two-spirits) through visions. It originally meant 'to having different genders exist in one person.' Today two-spirit is used mostly to refer to Indigenous LGBTQQIA+ people," the booklet reads.
Mitchell said the purpose behind the powwow was simple: to raise awareness of two-spirit people and to promote inclusion and acceptance of not only two-spirit people but the LGBTQ+ community as a whole.
"They're not there to harm you so why harm them?" he said.
Saturday's event was the first two-spirit powwow to be held in Vernon, and Mitchell says work is already underway to plan a repeat of the event during Vernon's pride week next year.
"For our first annual, it's a pretty good turnout," Mitchell said.
