“Not all the songs have words,” Maniscalco said. “Some of them are just ‘vocalables,’ like a Gregorian chant kind of deal. They just have guttural kind of noises. And others have words. Like we, specifically, we sing Lakota. It’s a branch of the Sioux people of South Dakota.

“Generally, the songs tend to be specific to the situation that people call for. If it’s an honoring song, if it’s an honoring song for women, they’ll recount, ‘Women, you need to be brave, your people are counting on you.’ It’s kind of an encouragement that way.”

Introducing each dance, like a pair of primitive disc jockeys, are 69-year-old Thom Meyers and 72-year-old Frank Andrews.

“(We) tell stories, historical stuff, jokes,” said Andrews. “Keep it moving, that’s our job,”

Meyers is from Billings, Mont., and Andrews is from Albuquerque, N.M. The pair emcee at pow wows all over the United States.

“California, South Dakota, New York, Ohio, Florida, Indiana,” Andrews said.

Meyers said he’s been attending pow wows since he was 6; Andrews, since he was 11. Like many of the people who attended the dance, they were introduced to it young and kept coming back.

“I was 13 when I started doing this,” said Krug, clinking all the while. “I’m 43 now, so I’ve been doing this for 30 years. And you see kids from five years old, and you’ll see people 70 years old out there dancing.

“Basically, what we’re doing is honoring the Native American culture.”

This year’s pow wow also aimed to honor one of its long-time associates, Lester (Les) Bean of Titusville, a Boy Scouts leader and camp ranger at Custaloga Town who passed away in 2008. Members of the Bean family were honored during a special dance ceremony on Saturday night. And the Bean family hosted a feast for everyone at the camp earlier in the day.

“He was a very good friend,” said Krug.

And friends, according to Meyers, is the true spirit of the De-Un-Da-Ga Pow Wow.

“The pow wow is all about old friendships, acquaintances, meeting new people,” he said. “As you get older, you understand that friendship means more than anything.”

Pete Chiodo can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at pchiodo@meadvilletribune.com.