The First Voices Festival will return for its fifth year to celebrate Indigenous cultures with storytelling, music, traditional foods and more. The week-long festival will take place Nov. 20 – 27 at locations across the city.
The festival began in 2022 after local groups noticed a lack of Indigenous celebrations in the city. At the center of the festival was the Powwow, a traditional gathering that originated among Native American tribes on the Great Plains.
There will be a two-day outdoor Powwow this year, presented by Zintkala Zi PowWow, which is led by Buffalo Yellowbird, a citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation. The Powwow includes traditional drummers and dancers, foods, vendors, demonstrations, and storytelling.
The festival will also include a screening and discussion of the documentary “The Doctrine” at the Plaza Theatre. The film follows a group of Indigenous teenagers who travel to Rome to meet with Vatican officials and advocate for the repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery, 15th-century decrees issued by the Vatican authorizing conquest, colonization, codified racism and slavery. The decrees were enshrined in U.S. law in 1823.
For some, gathering in Atlanta marks a return to ancestral lands. Areas that are now Georgia and Alabama were the territory of the Muscogee (Creek) people until many were forcibly relocated to Oklahoma in the 1800s. It was there that they were exposed to Plains Powwow traditions.
Tickets are needed for the film screening, which can be purchased here. All other events are free and open to the public.
These events are brought to you by 7 Stages, Turtle Island Trading, Little 5 Points Cultural District, Zintkala Zi PowWow, and Plaza Theatre.
