The Nadeau family helped establish St. Marys mission and later were among the first Citizen Potawatomi to settle in Indian Territory.
Guest columnist Minisa Crumbo Halsey writes about the Anishnabé Creation Story which tells us many stories of our relations, the Star Beings, and the Star Being Constellation, Mno Mko, visible in the summer sky.
Whether Tribal members attending the Family Reunion Festival want to learn how to research family history, work on creating items for their regalia or even take a tour of the CPN Eagle Aviary, there are plenty of opportunities to explore Potawatomi culture.
Each year at the Family Reunion Festival, the Cultural Heritage Center hopes to add to its collection of heritage interviews with Tribal members. This year, staff at the CHC is also implementing a new tech incentive program for members to conduct interviews online.
The 2024 Honored Families are Darling, Hardin, Higbee, Levier, Lewis, Nadeau, Negahnquet, Pambogo and Smith.
Intertwined with the Bergeron family history, the Lewis family history is one of endurance and leadership in the face of removal. Wesley Lewis worked to establish the first schoolhouse, post office and cemetery near present-day Wanette, Oklahoma, and his descendants continued to develop infrastructure in the area, serve as community leaders and preserve Potawatomi history.
Constellation stories are tied to the Potawatomi way of life and relationships to nature, and Potawatomi artist Minisa Crumbo Halsey reflects these teachings in her paintings. Crumbo Halsey hopes her art will encourage Potawatomi to embrace the traditional star knowledge Nishnabé people have relied upon for hundreds of years.
To highlight some of the CPN Cultural Heritage Center’s archival holdings, the Hownikan is featuring photographs and family history of every founding Citizen Potawatomi family. The Higbee family traces its roots back to the St. Joseph River Valley and has a long legacy serving as teachers, medical professionals, CPN employees, Tribal leaders and more.
The first in a series by Minisa Crumbo Halsey that focuses on traditional Anishnabé star knowledge, this article tells how the Nishnabé arrived upon Sekmekwe (Mother Earth) by descent from the Mdodosenik, the Seven Sisters-Pleiades Constellation.
The March 2024 Language Update features a new beginner class, the annual Winter Storytelling event and a new class for Elders.