CENTRAL GARAGE The drums beat a steady beat and the singer sang a veterans' song.

With an American flag and the tribe's eagle staff leading them, about 50 military veterans -- some Indian, some not -- paraded around the Dance Circle at the Upper Mattaponi Indian Tribe's powwow yesterday.

"This is an honor song, ladies and gentlemen," explained Powhatan Red Cloud-Owen, the master of ceremonies.

"All our World War II veterans, we give you honor; all our Korean War veterans, all our Vietnam veterans, our peacetime veterans, [and] those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thank you, thank you, veterans."

To Virginia Army National Guard Sgt. Howard Adams, the powwow's Memorial Day tribute was "awesome -- it's excellent."

A member of the Upper Mattaponi tribe, Adams recently returned from deployment to Kosovo. He has volunteered to deploy again, this time to Iraq.

His uncle, Wesley Adams, a retired Army command sergeant major, pointed up the hill on the tribal grounds toward the flagpole flying the Stars and Stripes. Every powwow, he said, "I put the flag up."

Several thousand people came out in the bright sun and cool breezes to the powwow in King William County yesterday to watch the sacred dances, hear Indian songs and music, to see the ancient crafts and learn about Virginia Indian culture.

One of the visitors had his children's education in mind.

Yunus Vohra of Richmond brought his son Shaan, 10, and daughter Sabina, 7, to the powwow to show them first-hand what the children were studying in school.

And, Vohra said, "we can relate." In his south Asian homeland of India, "we also dance in a circle. And we have food around fried bread. We do the same stuff at home."

About 15,000 people of Indian ancestry live in the Old Dominion -- tribal registers record 2,500 members -- and the state officially recognizes eight tribes. The Upper Mattaponi alone list more than 550 members, according to tribal elder Eunice Adams, 83, of Chesapeake.

"We're Virginia's best-kept secret," said Chief Anne Richardson of the Rappahannock tribe.

Powwows are part sacred, part social, part festival, part familial -- and part sale. Vendors sold jewelry, flutes, art, crafts, decidedly nonlethal bows and arrows, caps and T-shirts and a buffalo hide priced at $750.

"It's a time for us to come together, a time for young people to meet each other," said Richardson, who lives in King and Queen County's Indian Neck.

"Lots of marriages are sparked at powwow season."
Contact Peter Bacqué at (804) 649-6813 or pbacque@timesdispatch.com.