MANKATO – Rain didn’t stop the annual kick-off tradition of the Mahkato Wacipi.
Normally held at Land of Memories Park, the Mankato Education Day brings middle schoolers into contact with indigenous people so they can learn about their traditions, culture and heritage.
“It’s just a continuation of how important it is to provide educational opportunities for our students and learning from experts and our elders in our community. It’s important to connect that and know that, as native communities, we’re still here, we’re still living our ways of life and sharing our culture with people,” Megan Heutmaker said.
Heutmaker is the senior director for Multicultural and American Indian affairs at Minnesota State University while also sitting on the Pow Wow Committee and managing Education Day. She says her years of experience organizing the event helped her this year when a wrench was thrown into the works: rain in the forecast.
“We made a call early yesterday because the weather wasn’t looking great and then just executed that plan. I was calling the presenters, letting them know the new game plan, which is we’re gonna come to the schools and just transition [some] stuff to be inside so that people wouldn’t have to sit in the rain today,” Heutmaker said.
The event, featuring around 20 presenters, was moved to Dakota Meadows Middle School in the morning and Prairie Winds Middle School in the afternoon.
One of the presenters, Londel Seaboy, introduced the students to a traditional drum and music, before teaching those in attendance a Dakota phrase: “Anpetu was’te”, meaning “Good day.” For Seaboy, the ability to present his culture and heritage means being able to bridge a gap between two worlds.
“Within mainstream America, there’s a lot of stereotypes, and there’s a lot of ‘uneducation’ that people are educated about,” he said.
Some of those topics include the tipi, Seaboy said, and educating young people on not just the structure, but the story of the tipi and how it became important to the Dakota culture. The same goes for music.
“The drum and the songs all coincide with just about everything pertaining to living life. There’s music and song that stretches from our socials and games, to what people would call our rituals,” Seaboy said.
The event has historically been used as a sort of kick-off to the annual Mahkato Wacipi, which takes place this weekend at Land of Memories Park.