Nde Daa Spring Exhibition Pow Wow

The South Texas Indian Dancers Association presents the Nde Daa Spring Exhibition Pow Wow Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. at the Lark Community Center at 2601 Lark Street in McAllen.
The Nde Daa Pow Wow is one of the many activities sponsored by the South Texas Indian Dancers Association. The organization was started in 1972 as a way for family members and friends to preserve the traditions of the Lipan Apaches who inhabited South Texas. 
In 1989 the family decided to open their gatherings to the public and started the South Texas Pow Wow held on the fourth weekend of every October. That pow wow has been going on for 20 years.
The Nde Daa Pow Wow was the creation of family member Robert Soto. “One day, while thinking of our people, I remembered a long time ago, back when I was a little boy, my Apache relatives would come together under the shade of some large mesquite trees,” Soto said. “They would wait until the mesquite trees would be in full spring blossom.  The men would start a fire and cook all afternoon while the rest of the people would go and harvest the young leaves of the prickly pear cactus.  The women would sit under the shade of the mesquite trees and cut the splinters off young cactus leaves. They would then fill wooden bushel baskets with alternating layers of the young bright green leaves of the mesquite tree and the cactus leaves.  This went on all day long and in the late afternoon our people would have a big feast in celebration of the coming of spring.  Each person would take their share of the harvested cactus and then go home. That was the way my family celebrated the coming of spring.  That tradition eventually ceased as our elders crossed over to the land of Eternal Summer.”
Soto realized his people could never go back to those days, but they could do something in remembrance of those days.  So they started the Nde Daa Pow Wow.  Nde means the people and Daa means spring.  So this is the People’s Spring Exhibition Pow Wow. 
“We meet each year on the second weekend of March and celebrate as a tribe, a people and a family, the wonderful culture that God the Creator has given us as Lipan Apaches,” said Soto.
They invite the public to join them as they enjoy the sounds of the past in our modern times. Guests will see traditional Indian dances and amazing traditional costumes. Some dances are open to public participation. There will be cake walks, raffles, Native American jewelry, dream catchers, and arts and crafts. Come enjoy the rich heritage of the Lipan Apache.