Potawatomi communities were established throughout the Great Lakes region, including along the shorelines of present-day Michigan. Together with the Ojibwe and Odawa, they formed an alliance of the Anishinaabe tribes, known as the Council of Three Fires. Villages were located along rivers and inland lakes that fed Lake Michigan, including the river now called the Macatawa.
In the nineteenth century, treaty cessions and federal removal policies displaced many Potawatomi communities westward. Some families remained in Michigan. Ceremonial traditions and forms of dress continued within families despite political and geographic change.
Elizabeth Chivas is the fourth of five generations of the Whitepigeon/Pigeon family born in Holland, Michigan and is of Potawatomi and Ojibwe descent. Her spirit name is Ga-zhoowa-gimi-wan, meaning Warm Rain.
She serves as W’Okimawkwe (head woman) of the Whitepigeon family, is a Pipe Carrier, and is a board member of the Midéwewin Midé Widjig, a federally and state recognized ecclesiastical organization based on pre-Columbian Algonquin teachings. The organization was incorporated in Holland in 1991 by her grandfather Edward Whitepigeon, her father Jerome Whitepigeon, and Howard L. La Hurreau.
She is shown in women’s woodland traditional regalia reflecting styles worn for special occasions in the mid to late 1800s. The yellow and red ribbon blouse with silver brooches follows Potawatomi tradition, while the ribbon skirt reflects her Ojibwe heritage. Elizabeth and members of her family and community made the elements of the outfit. Her hat is woven from black ash. Her necklaces are made from apple seeds, cedar seeds, and shells. Her choker and earrings include dentalium shells from the Pacific Northwest, once widely traded between tribes.
The long skirt, ribbonwork, and layered beadwork reflect forms worn for formal gatherings and public occasions at the turn of the twentieth century.
The harbor structures are modern. The forms of dress shown in both images are traditional. Anishinaabe families are still here.