Comanche Nation Fair Features Princess Sorority Powwow
On Thursday, September 28, the Comanche Nation Princess Sorority held a powwow at the Comanche Nation powwow grounds.
Jolene Schonchin, the Public Information Officer for the Comanche Nation Princess Sorority, said the event was free and open to the public. She also said it’s a good precursor to the weekend celebration.
“We invited former Comanche Princesses and our current princesses,” she said. “We also invited the Kiowa princesses, current and past, and the current and past Apache princesses. And also in attendance are former Comanche Princess Directors, and a lot of them were Comanche princesses.”
Schonchin said having the powwow on a Thursday is good for people coming off of work.
“They can, you know, go home, grab their powwow chairs, and just come here and listen to some good, some good powwow music,” she said. “We didn't have any contests. We didn't have any specials. All we're doing is just having an evening of good song and dancing. Our raffles are things that you can use at your camp for the weekend, and so people are liking that. And the feeling here is just a very good feeling of fellowship. You can feel it in the air. People are talking [and] laughing. Some people are even pulling in from out of town and just coming here to the powwow, meeting their family and friends here. And you can see it as you sit on the emcee stand, and you can see what's going on. You see people hugging each other and getting their chairs and sitting down and just enjoying music, grabbing their shawls and dancing.”
Schonchin said this year’s powwow was bigger than past powwows.
“This year we have two drums. We have a northern drum and our host drum, and we have a lot more people in the crowd tonight,” she said. “So, I'm so happy that it's growing and people are coming out to, you know, just to be with us for the evening. We're really excited about that.”
Schonchin said the importance of the powwow is to come out and enjoy the time spent.
“To celebrate our culture, you know, us being Native. And just like the whole weekend, you know, we enjoy the company of other people,” she said. “The singers, fantastic singers tonight on both drums. And to see all the young ladies dressed up. We have a lot of princesses here. We have a lot of princesses from all different tribes, all different organizations. So that's really good to see.”
Schonchin said she felt very good at the event because she got to see the princesses.
“All the princesses here, they represent families from almost every world, from almost every family in our tribe,” she said. “They represent chiefs, they represent our past and our future. So, it's a good feeling. I can see it in the smiles of everybody, everybody laughing and visiting, singing, dancing. It's good.”
The Comanche Princess Sorority was founded in 1996 by Gaylene Motah, the head singer during the powwow.
“And the purpose of our organization is to provide guidance and support to our current princess,” Schonchin said. “Because all of us being former princesses, we can help her and guide her. And if she has any questions, we can help her and answer her. We are like a library of knowledge for her so that she can have a successful reign. And then, when she's done, she becomes one of the sorority. And then she too will help the next princess.”
She said being a Comanche Princess is a very honored title.
“And growing up in the powwow world, a lot of girls aspire to be that, young girls, they aspire to be that,” Schonchin said. “And so, we want to encourage everybody, you know, to, we want to encourage everybody to run for tribal princess.”
Comanche Nation Princesses, including McKenzi Sovo and Jr. Princess Vivien Parker and other tribal and organization princesses, such as Miss Indian Oklahoma Lily Painter, participated in the event.
