Marine Joins Father For Traditional Powwow Dance At Special Ceremony To Honor Veterans

May 31, 2020 by apost team

Native Americans have gone through a lot of difficulties and many of them are still grappling to try to combine their traditions and cultures with the world in which they live today.

Their traditional powwow ceremonies are one of the many ways that Native Americans can hold onto their roots no matter what is going on in the rest of the world. At the 2014 Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma’s Powwow, audiences were stunned and amazed when a Marine joined in on the dancing. The story behind it is heartwarming and speaks to the connection between the dancers.

It all started when Lance Corporal Marland Trey Kent was included in the powwow so that he could be both honored and given the opportunity to carry the American flag into the arena. As it turns out, this Marine is also a proud Native American who is also working hard to protect the country that he loves. 

One of the Native Americans began to dance in the traditional Native American fashion, wearing his cultural outfit when Lance Corporal Kent stepped right up to join him. As it turned out, the older man is his dad! The two of them blew the socks off everyone watching.

apost.com

The pair had put together a dance that blended both the proud culture of Native Americans and that of the United States military. They are calling it a Native American version of “changing of the guard." It wasn’t long before the rest of the dancers began to join in, arrayed in their own Native American attire, as mentioned here on Powwows.com.

The video was uploaded to YouTube by a man named Hugh Foley and it soon went viral. Those who watched it found themselves overcome with emotions, with one person commenting that seeing the pride of this young man had brought them to tears. Another Native American chimed in to say that it made him feel good to see two “warriors” dancing together.

We are also proud of the service that is offered by this brave Marine and the Native Americans that work so hard to keep their culture alive despite the passage of time.

Watch the video for yourself and let us know what you think. Have you ever been to a powwow before? Leave your thoughts in the comment section and then invite your friends to watch it as well!