Monarch butterfly celebration teaches, entertains at Ziibiwing Cultural Center Saturday

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Butterflies inspired a migration of students and local residents to a themed event at the Ziibiwing Center Saturday.

About 300 attended the fifth-annual Monarch Butterfly Celebration at the center, 6650 E. Broadway Road, as a collaboration between the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe and Mount Pleasant Area Public Schools.

Mount Pleasant resident Rachel Butzin dances a "butterfly dance" during the Monarch Butterfly Celebration Saturday evening at the Ziibiwing Center, 6650 E. Broadway Road. (Charlotte Bodak/Staff Photographer)

The event was started by a teacher who wanted the center to host an event in support of classrooms raising and learning about monarch butterflies.

“We tried raising the caterpillars into butterflies, and they’d turn into a chrysalis, then we’d release them,” said Yvette Pitawanakwat, event coordinator for the Ziibiwing Cultural Center.

The event was geared mostly toward children, with activities like crafts, cookies and prize tables.

One of the main attractions was the “Butterfly Dance,” performed by 26-year-old Rachel Butzin. The recent Michigan State University graduate said she has been dancing for as long as she can remember.

The Butterfly Dance symbolizes native stories about butterflies, Butzin said.

During the dance, Butzin wore a brightly colored dress and shawl, which she said was very special to her.

“I beaded the whole dress, which represents me,” Butzin said. “After I graduated from Michigan State, I made myself a beaded necklace with a Spartan head on it.”

Butzin’s story was about mothers giving their children everything they want because seeing them cry is uncomfortable, but in the end, the dance helps let mothers know it’s okay for their children to cry.

She said she relates to her dance because she understands, as a mother of two, how hard it is to see her children cry.

Barbara Lang and Marcia Royer, Alma residents, came to see the dance and brought several guests along.

“I’m hosting two exchange students from Taiwan who are in the dance program, so I brought them here to experience a different culture,” Royer said.

Lang said she enjoyed the event and would like to come back again.

“I would definitely come back,” said Lang. “The event is beautiful and inspiring.”