SAN ANTONIO POW WOW TO FEATURE NATIVE AMERICAN WOMEN VETERAN COLOR GUARD: 

News reports online say that the, United San Antonio Pow Wow, set for this weekend at San Antonio Shrine Auditorium, will draw members of 35 tribal nations from all over the country

FEATURED AT SAN ANTONIO POW WOW: 

see picture of Native-American Women Warriors from their Facebook page at: this link

The San Antonio powwow's newest addition will be the Native American Women Warriors color guard, military veterans from diverse tribes who will carry flags at the main entry.Active duty, Sand reservist, they wear their military insignia on traditional healing garments called jingle dresses, the group's vice president Julia Kelly said.

“Our regalia is meant to bring healing to the nation, to our tribal nations and to our veterans,” she said.The group was part of inaugural festivities last month in Washington, D.C. and has become so popular it now has an auxiliary unit that includes male members, Kelly said.

 Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Powwow-to-celebrate-tribal-identities-4281564.php#ixzz2L0X0Kv2V

WITA BLOGGER NOTE: What is a Jingle Dress? 

According to Wikipedia: A Jingle dress is a Native American women's pow wow dance.^[1] The regalia worn for this dance is the jingle dress, which includes ornamentation with multiple rows of metal cones which create a jingling sound as the dancer moves. 

WITA searched Wikipedia and found this beautiful example of the decorative outfit called a Jingle Dress (see below): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jingle_dress: 

Jingle dess (see sample above from Wikipedia,org will be similar to the ones worn by the Native American Women Tribal Warriors as they perform at the San Antonio POW WOW this weekend. The "warriors' also performed at Obanma's 2013 Innauguration, 

HOW ARE JINGLE DESSES DESIGNED?  According to Wikipedia: Contemporary jingle dresses, introduced in the 1980s, are made from multi-coloured fabric decorated with tin jingles, originally made from lids of chewing tobacco cans, but now frequently constructed of other metals. The jingle count on a child's dress is about 100 to 130 or 140, and for a woman's size the amount varies depending on the design of the dress. The contemporary dancer carries a feather fan, often wearing eagle plumes or feathers in her hair SEE.Video clip from the National Museum of the American Indian 2005 National Pow wow

LINK TO MAKE A JINGLE DRESS: (chosen at random from Google search): http://www.powwowfabrics.com/jingledress.html

JINGLE DRESS DECORATION INFO: 

Someone "invented" a new rule that says dresses are supposed to have 365 cones, to represent a prayer for each day of the year. While that's a nice idea, it's not traditional, according knowlegeable Ojibway families from the area of origin. Source info: http://www.littlecrowtradingpost.com/pagejingle.htm TO BUY JINGLE DRESSES go to: this link on eBay for active listings as of 2/15/13 For more information on Women in Tribal arts go to: www.womenintribalarts.org and tweet us at www.twitter.com/tribalartswomen and of course continue to read this blog. Contact: joyceschwarz(at)gmail.com for more info: