“Where the partridge flaps its wings”…
From Montreal, you must drive to Cornwall Island to reach the Ontario site of the annual Akwesasne Pow Wow. The pow wow takes place in September, the weekend after Labor Day, at the A’nowara’ko:wa arena.
The Ahkwesáhsne Mohawk Reserve has a population of 12,000. The name of the site literally means “Where the partridge flutters”.
Mohawks from Kahnawà:ke settled on this site around 1750. Pier Karkohe, son of one of the Tarbel brothers and husband of the daughter of the chief of the Turtle clan, founded Ahkwesáhsne in 1755.
Kana:takon which means “village” designates the commune of Saint Régis, a French name derived from the Jesuit mission under the patronage of Jean-François Régis who was born there two years later.
The reserve is enclosed between three distinct administrative entities, a territorial singularity that affects the life of the community on a daily basis.
Ahkwesáhsne covers ninety square kilometers, a territory that straddles the Montérégie region of Quebec, Ontario and New York State in the United States. To the North of the island is Canada, to the South, the United States.
Its annual pow wow is held on the Cornwall site. This is one of the most spectacular and convivial powwows I have had the chance to attend during my reporting. The excitement is here. The dances give off the authenticity and the power of evocation of the Mohawk warriors as they were performed in the past…