Former Sho-Ban Festival queen talks importance of beaded regalia

The annual Shoshone-Bannock Indian Festival kicked off on Thursday, bringing in people from all over the United States. One of the main events at the weekend long festival is dancing.

However, some guests who attend the festival are unfamiliar with the significance of the beaded regalia worn during the dances. And occasionally, people will want to use the word ‘costume’ to describe the native regalia that they see.

Hovia Edwards, a former Miss Shoshone Bannock Festival Queen said ‘costume’ is the wrong word to describe native regalia.

“It is called a regalia, a native regalia instead of a costume, because a costume is referred to as something made up or just for fun. It is something you are pretending to be,” said Edwards.

Edwards spoke of the significance of native beadwork, adding that some of these items have been passed down from generation to generation.

“As for native regalia, it is something that we take pretty seriously because it is something that we respect. We respect our Indian beadwork, we respect our feathers because it all represents something,” said Edwards.

And while it may be tempting to take a picture of a dancers beaded regalia, Edwards said to ask the dancer before you do.

“Sometimes I think the best courtesy you can give an individual dancer, if you need to take their photograph, is to just go up to them in general and kindly ask them if it would it be okay to take their photo.”

For a schedule of events at the festival, click here.