MEDICINE BEAR DRUM GROUP WHO WE ARE
Medicine Bear is a Native American Traditional Pow-Wow Drum. We first started in 1995. We have gone through many changes since we first began, and guided by our Creator we have played at many pow-wows and gatherings in the New England Area. As a traditional drum we never drum without the four directions being covered. However, women do not sit on our drum as we were taught stand in the back of the drum to protect the men drumming. It is the belief of our ancestors that the women were the first drummers. They drummed to keep the villages safe while the men were hunting or on a war party. This kept the enemies from knowing the villages were unprotected. It also served as a beacon to help the warriors and hunters find their way back at night when it was dark. When the Creator saw fit, the women gifted the drum to the men and told them they would stand behind it to protect the men. They sing but do not drum. Medicine Bear is an Eastern Woodland Drum and that is the kind of music we play, different than some of our brothers and sisters in the mid west and Rockies, but none the less native to this area. We follow Ojibwa Traditions. Pat Lilly is the Elder on our drum and is a teacher of Native Ojibwa Traditions. Our Drum members are all clean and sober and we follow the practices of the Red Road.
Medicine Bear Pow-wow June 27 & 28, 2009
Rochester Fair Grounds, Rochester, NH