2 minute read
“WILD ONION FEAST”
BY DEBRA WEST
The Indian Women’s Pocahontas Club Higher Education Scholarship Fundraiser
Spring is near and excitement is in the air! The Indian Women’s Pocahontas Club members know it is time to go to the creek where the blanket of brown leaves protects the wild onions and dig. Club members have been performing this ritual for decades. Even the girls from the female seminaries from which the Club was born gathered wild onions (without permission), going together to forage for their first green of spring. There was much anticipation as they used their hands to rake away the brown blanket of leaves and reveal the tender green blades of wild onions peeking out. The ladies dug carefully with a sharpened stick and left the root system intact for the next year’s harvest. Wild onions grow close to running creek water, and dirt was easily washed from the roots.
An Event With a Purpose
Today, ladies from the Indian Women’s Pocahontas Club not only dig wild onions, but also Sassafras roots. They dig only enough Sassafras roots to boil for a special aromatic tea before returning home to clean the wild onions, gather eggs, and prepare a feast. This tradition has always been shared with family, friends, and neighbors to bring the community together.
The Wild Onion Feast celebrates the beginning of Spring and the gathering of Indian Women’s Pocahontas Club members with the community to raise money for the Club’s Higher Education Scholarship Program.
Wild Onion Feast Event Details
The Wild Onion Feast will be held March 15, 2025, from 12:00 - 2:00 p.m. at the Claremore First Methodist Church, 1615 N. Hwy 88, Claremore, OK, 74017. The planned activities include a live auction with proceeds benefiting the IWPC Higher Education Scholarship Fundraiser.
To reserve your table of eight for $250 at The Wild Onion Feast, contact Monta Ewing today at 918-857-2089 or email presidentindianwpc@gmail.com.
INDIAN WOMEN’S POCAHONTAS CLUB P.O. BOX 3252 | CLAREMORE, OK 74018 | 918-760-0813 | CHELSEAWEST008@GMAIL.COM
