Early summer sun beamed down on the opening of Celebration, a festival that honors Southeast Alaska Indigenous cultures. The Grand Entrance drew thousands of dancers, families and supporters for the biennial tradition in Juneau.
This year, an estimated 1,800 dancers of all ages gathered on June 3 from Indigenous communities from across Alaska, the Great Plains and the Hawaiian Islands to kick off four days of celebrating Native culture and heritage.
The four-day event included performances by the Wrangell JOM Kaasitlaan Dancers.
Celebration ended on Saturday, June 6.
“It feels so good, it makes my heart feel whole again, to be able to dance with a lot of my relatives again,” said Thomas Yellowhorse Davis who is Oglala Lakota and Tlingit from Hoonah and danced with the Mt. Fairweather dance group.
He wore striking traditional regalia with an eagle feather headdress and bustle that he made in the Plains-style tradition from Pine Ridge, South Dakota, he said, but was dancing Tlingit warrior dances with the dance group from Hoonah.
Beside him, Kimberly Dominguez-Davis, of the Yaqui tribe in Tucson, Arizona, wore a traditional jingle dress, regalia that has metal cones sewn to create a rhythmic sound when dancers move. “This dress is a healing dress for whoever feels sick or cannot walk. We dance for them to heal, and this jingle dress, it represents the rain and the thunder,” she said.
The Davises, who are married, said they were glad to see so many families, especially with young children, attend Celebration and express their culture and heritage.
“They’re keeping their culture alive and strong, and the children they’re making sure the children learn their languages and their songs and they’re dancing here, and that’s really special to me,” said Dominguez-Davis.
The Grand Entrance included 34 dance groups in a two-hour procession in downtown Juneau and through Centennial Hall’s main stage before a packed audience, singing, drumming and dancing.
Celebration began in 1982 as a dance and culture festival to celebrate Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures of Southeast Alaska, according to its organizer, the nonprofit Sealaska Heritage Institute, in Juneau. This year, the theme is “enduring strength.”
Ricardo Worl, who is Tlingit from Juneau and dances with the Chilkat Thunderbird and Sockeye Clans dance group, wore a traditional Chilkat robe newly woven by a family member, a Navajo weaver.
“We have lots to celebrate. I think the Tlingit people are setting a good example based on our traditional values of how we interact with the land, and also how we interact with each other. We have responsibilities to each other, especially to members of our opposite clans,” he said.
“I think it’s just a good example, and probably a highlight when we think about what’s happening in our country today,” he added. “This whole next four days is going to be a really inspirational example of what our country could be like.”
On the main stage in Centennial Hall, Rosita Ḵaaháni Worl, president of Sealaska Heritage Institute and Ricardo Worl’s mother, addressed the crowd following the Grand Entrance. She said the theme “enduring strength” was chosen to reaffirm the will and determination the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people have cultivated to overcome adversity over the past 12,000 years.
“Enduring strength is also a statement that we can overcome the challenges that we are now facing with national political forces that seek to undermine our culture, diminish our basic civil rights and human rights, and to subjugate the people of color,” she said.
“We stand here proud and strong, and knowing that our core cultural values will guide us through these challenging times,” she said.
More than 100 people arrived at Celebration by traditional canoe, called a yaakw in Tlingit, from communities across Southeast Alaska and First Nations of Canada.
The four days of Celebration included events and activities celebrating traditional song, dance, Native languages, food, classes and art including a toddler regalia review and an Indigenous fashion show.
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