No swimsuit competition for Miss Indian World

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Back in the Native village of Napaimute in southwest Alaska, Megan Leary drives a snowmobile, can fix the engine on a boat, and carries a bolt-action .243 Winchester rifle when moose hunting.

In Albuquerque, New Mexico, she’s a potential pageant queen.

The 23-year-old Leary had arrived in New Mexico last week for the 30th annual Miss Indian World pageant, along with 23 other contestants representing tribes in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. 

Danielle Ta’Sheena Finn pulls an arrow from the quiver on her back and sets the projectile in her bow.

“There was a time when the Lakota Oyate, the Lakota people, depended on wakinyan, the arrow, and itazipa, the bow, for everyday survival,” said Finn as she drew back the bowstring and loosed the arrow across the stage to its target.

The Miss Indian World talent competition was well underway, and Finn was onstage, armed, and the crowd loved it.

Chelsea Tailfeathers wore a blue jingle dress, two eagle plumes and red lipstick. Taylor Thomas carried an eagle-feather fan, a dress adorned with elks’ teeth that made clack-clack sounds when shook, and a pair of moccasins with orange and red flowers beaded on them. Miranda Tonantzin wore a brightly sequined and beaded shawl in red, white, yellow, blue and black, crowned by a headdress of feathers gathered from brightly colored tropical birds.

All smiled and showed off their beauty-queen wave as they circled the powwow ground, otherwise known as the floor of the University of New Mexico’s basketball stadium, referred to locally as “the Pit.”

Each year thousands converge on Albuquerque at the Gathering of Nations powwow, to either watch or partake in the spectacle of the dance contests, where tribal members compete in categories with titles like men’s Northern Traditional, women’s Fancy Shawl or teen boys’ Grass Dance. All categories come with cash prizes for those with the skills to win.

The nonprofit Gathering of Nations Limited puts on the powwow and Miss Indian World competition each year. However, spokespeople for the event could not confirm that anyone with the organization was tribally affiliated or how revenues were used to “promote and highlight American Indian culture and traditions” or “promote positive lifestyles for Native Americans” as described as the group’s purpose in its IRS tax forms.

Still, each year, more people come to Gathering, both those curious to see Native culture and the Indian Country community itself. Friendships are reaffirmed with hugs and jokes. Families travel together to support one another and for a quick vacation. Academics, thinkers and writers from Native communities descend to experience the event and weigh in with support or deride the whole spectacle, and for one weekend the single Native scene gets a lot bigger. 

Each night at Gathering, all dancers, in full regalia, come out for Grand Entry. With over 3,000 dancers coming together, the floor of the basketball arena quickly turns into a sea of feathers, face paint, jingle dresses, beads, glitter, bells, buckskin, bustles, braids and black hair. As the largest powwow in the world, it can be both beautiful and overwhelming, and on Saturday, directly after Grand Entry, Miss Indian World 2013–2014 passed her crown.

“We’d like to say congratulations to each one of these young ladies, they all did a wonderful job,” yelled an announcer. “They’re beautiful, intelligent, and they represent their people well. Let’s give them a great round of applause, all the contestants for Miss Indian World.”