Native American celebrations encompass a wide array of rituals, ceremonies, and festivals that vary greatly between different tribes and regions.

Some common celebrations include Powwows, Sun Dances, Green Corn Ceremonies, Potlatches, and Indigenous Peoples Day. These celebrations often involve dancing, singing, drumming, storytelling, and sharing food, and they serve as a way to honor traditions, connect with community, and transmit cultural knowledge to younger generations.

See our News section for posted upcoming events.

A Mowa Dancer

PowWows

An Indian PowWow is a gathering of tribal members to renew family, religious/spiritual, cultural and tribal ties.

  • At a PowWow, listen to the Emcee for instructions
  • This event is one which is viewed by tribal members with great reverence
  • Ask permission of dancers to photograph or video tape them
Alabama native kids

Annual Trail of Tears Commemorative Motorcycle Ride©

The trail of Tears Commemorative Motorcycle Ride© is an annual event held on the third Saturday in September every year in Waterloo, Alabama. "The Trail of Tears Commemorative Motorcycle Ride© was started to raise public awareness about the Drane/Hood Overland Route and to mark this specific overland Trail of Tears route that was in danger of being lost in history."

May 26th, 1838, people would have knocked down the front doors of Cherokee people's homes and dragged them to internment camps scattered throughout the southeast. By 1838, only about 2,000 Cherokees had left their Georgia homeland for Indian Territory. President Martin Van Buren sent General Winfield Scott and 7,000 soldiers to expedite the removal process. Scott and his troops forced the Cherokee into stockades at bayonet point while whites looted their homes and belongs. Then, they marched the Indians more than 1,200 miles to Indian Territory. Whooping cough, typhus dysentery, cholera and starvation were epidemic along the way. Historians estimate that more than 5,000 Cherokee died as a result of the journey - information from past president, Ike Moore.

This is a FREE EVENT open to the public.

For more information, contact the AL-TN Trail of Tears Corridor Association, Inc. (ATTOCAI) at either:

Trail of tears historic marker in Waterloo Alabama