Experience the World's Largest Powwow

By Steve Larese

Stepping in a clockwise spiral, dancers fill the arena in a colorful swirl of traditional dress. Drum groups sing as they play thunderous rhythms that dancers instinctively anticipate. The ringing of thousands of bells and rattles affixed to dancers accentuate every step. More than 3,000 participants, representing all 565 U.S. and 220 Canada indigenous tribes, enter the Tingley Coliseum at the New Mexico State Fairgrounds. Billed as the largest such event in the world, the powerful Gathering of Nations Powwow in Albuquerque is felt as much as seen and heard, the percussion aligning tens of thousands of heartbeats in the audience during the two day annual event...https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/destinations/north-america/united-states/new-mexico/things-to-do-albuquerque-gathering-of-nations-powwow/