Regalia and Remembrance

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In his Letters from Nova Scotia (1830), Captain William Moorsom observed that Mi'kmaq clothing included a "blue cloth surtout, edged at the seams with stripes of red, open at the neck, closely fitted to the body, and belted round the waist, their leggins [sic] of the same material, and seal-skin or stuffed cap, or a common hat...."

Almost thirty years later, Frederic Cozzens furnished another brief description in his Acadia; or, a month with the Blue Noses (1859), noting that the Mi'kmaq women whom he met were "arrayed in blue broadcloth frocks and leggings, and modesty, and moccasins." Cozzens also remembered that the chief wore a great silver cross and medal.

In the years following European contact, traditional Mi'kmaq dress was an amalgam of French and English elements, combined with Mi'kmaq forms from earlier periods. Leather and furs were replaced with European materials, trims and fastenings. The finest Mi'kmaq traditional clothes were termed 'full regalia.'

The pointed cap was traditional headgear for Mi'kmaq women, although other styles were sometimes worn. Traditional women's dress also included a jacket, usually broadcloth with ribbon trim, and fastened with a brooch. The skirt was a tube of cloth, with shoulder suspenders of braid or tape; ornamental tabs hung below the jacket. Dress also included cloth leggings, dried moose-hide moccasins and a tobacco pouch.

Men's traditional dress included a coat copied from contemporary European military uniforms, featuring a collar, cuffs and beaded epaulets; the coat was tied with a woven belt. Men's dress also included leggings tied to short trousers, plus moccasins and a hat, cap or feather headdress.