How to Become a Cree Nation Princess in a Northern Reserve, Alberta, Canada?

 I met a Princess today!


Her name is Niyanah  and she was the 2015-16 Princess for a northern reserve in Alberta.

N. just came back from a Pow Wow and she was wearing some beautiful beaded accessories. I admired the gorgeous bead work she was wearing and asked her many questions of what each piece meant.

Since I showed so much interest in her culture and dancing, she was kind enough to change into her full pow wow costume and danced for us!!!

She did an amazing jingle dance for us at the Youth Centre.  N. is not just a beautiful girl; she is very smart, articulate and most of all, there is an air of confidence about her.

Since she was the reigning Princess on this reserve, I asked her about the process of being chosen as the Princess.

The First Nations Princess competitions are open to everyone on the reserve. There are three categories.

Tiny Tot Princess - Opens to girls from 2 - 6 years old

Junior Princess - Opens to girls from 7 to 12

Senior princess from 13- 17 years old

To be crowned as a princess, one has to be a good role model, has good leadership skills, and must be addiction free of alcohol and drugs.
N. took part in this community wide competition. She learned about it from a poster she saw in the band office and followed the process:

• She registered for the competition; she needed to fund raise for the Pow Wow by selling raffle tickets.
• She had to compete in public speaking by preparing a 5 minute speech and presented it in the Pow Wow. The band gave the contestants a topic to write such as:   Why culture was important. and as a youth, how they can bring tradition back to the community and why sorority was important?
• Writing an essay on a topic of her choice
• The contestants came fully dressed in their regalia and took part in a dance competition against the other contestants,

There were three judges judging all the categories of the competition and they would choose the princess who they feel can best represent their community.

N. was crowned  a princess three times, as a Tiny Tot Princess, then Junior Princess and last yea as the Senior Princess.  As a Princess on her reserve, she was expected to go to a lot of pow wow to represent her community.

Judging from what we have seen of N., she must have done a fine job representing her community in 2015- 2016,

We are very proud of you and it has been great meeting you a couple of time this week!

R.T.
A Northern Reserve
Alberta