If you ever had any doubts about the effect of a Native American Snow Dance I think you can put those doubts away.
This past Sunday in Lake Tahoe, Native American adults and youth held hands with the public in a traditional "Round Dance" asking for spiritual help to bring snow to the Lake Tahoe region.
Monday morning, for the first time in two months, a dusting of snow appeared at lake level with two inches at 8,200 feet. According to meteorologists, the storm door is set to open Wednesday with a possible 6 feet of snow falling above 8,000 feet by Monday.
The "Round Dance" held on the West Shore at Ed Z'Berg Sugar Pine Point State Park in Homewood was performed by elaborately dressed Paiute, Shoshone, and Washoe, tribal relatives of the dancers who performed at the 1960 Winter Olympic Games, at the official closing ceremonies of North Lake Tahoe's Olympic Heritage Week. Sugar Pine Point State Park was the summer home of the Washoe people.
In a similar situation just over 50 years ago, an absence of January snow in the Sierra posed similar planning concerns for the managers of the 1960 Winter Olympic Games' Nordic events, which were to be held at the same location, Sugar Pine Point State Park. The nervous organizers of those original Olympics brought in Great Basin dancers to encourage snowfall, and history has indeed repeated itself.
Now we just need to get the five tribes of the Iroquois to come to the rescue in the East.
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Native American Dance Copyright VisionsofAmerica/Joe Sohm
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