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Photograph by Skye Dunlap
Pow Wow: Annalisa and Dana Morgan and dad Jeff are members of Indian Princesses, a father/daughter group that will walk in the Founders Day parade.
Sibling Tribalry
By Jessica Lyons
Two blond girls wearing Indian dresses and feathered headbands perch on the edge of a couch in their Willow Glen home. Their feet dangle, nowhere close to touching the ground. The two sisters may look like any other grade schoolers, but Annalisa, 7, and Dana, 4, are royalty. They're Indian Princesses, and dad Jeff Morgan is the chief.
A program of the South Valley YMCA, Indian Princesses is a father-daughter group, open to any girl in grades K-3 and her dad. "It gives us a chance to bond with our daughters," Jeff says.
Annalisa and Dana agree.
"I like it 'cause ... I don't know," says Dana, a kindergartener at Booksin, with bright red tights and cowboy boots under her white Indian dress.
Annalisa, a third-grader at Booksin, knows exactly why being an Indian Princess is so much fun.
"I like the camp-outs, and going on the climbing walls, doing archery," she says, wearing two braids and braces. "Last year I got an arrow in the yellow zone, but this year I want to get it in the bull's-eye."
Six to 10 dad/daughter pairs make up a tribe. Annalisa, Dana and Jeff are members of the Hopi tribe, the South Valley's group.
Tribal meetings are held once a month, along with one tribe activity or field trip. Tribes take a break during the summer, so the Hopis recently held their first meeting, a pool party. Last year, dads and daughters took a trip to Mesa Verde to see the Indian ruins and watch the Hopi dancers, whose costumes were very similar to the ones Annalisa and Dana wear, Jeff says.
Tribes join with other tribes in the same geographical area to form a nation--in this case, the Ohlone Nation. Each nation also partakes of monthly events, ranging from camping trips to parades.
On Sept. 18, the Hopi tribe is marching in the Founders Day Parade, but that's old hat for these two Indian Princesses. The girls' résumé of parades includes past Founders Day events and the Los Gatos Holiday Parade. Annalisa even has some advice for novice marchers: "Just don't be scared, because it's real fun."
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
