Tanya Bunch
One-year-old Sonora Boatman participates in her first Pinenut Festival last weekend in Schurz.
To the hypnotic rhythm of the drum and the moving voices of Indian singers, dancers entered the arena to share their talents during this year’s Walker River Indian Pinenut Festival held over the weekend.
Children of all ages showed no shyness as they danced to the beat of the drums, placing each foot in front of another, in dances passed down generation to generation.
Held every year in Schurz, the festival has been held for over 80 years to celebrate and bless the pinenut harvest, a food that the Paiute tribe still goes out yearly to pick, clean and sort.
Pow Wow’s such as the one held last weekend, allows the culture of the Walker River tribe to continue and allows those in attendance to familiarize them with the culture of the Paiute Tribe.
At the festival, not only was dancing a hit, but many participated in the free lunch prepared by members of the tribe, as well as hand games and cradleboard displays.
The festival is a time-honored event when Tribal members come home and Indian people from many nations partake in the blessed event.
The blessing of the pinenut goes back over 100 years when the pinenut was used as food subsistence for the Great Basin Indians, such as those in Schurz.
