Most people outside of southeast Alaska have probably never heard of Elizabeth Peratrovich even though she was an important civil rights activist who pushed for passage of Alaska’s Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945 – one of the country’s earliest civil rights laws.  Alaska celebrates “Elizabeth Peratrovich Day” on February 16th to honor her.  Because Alaska was only a territory at that time, the U.S. Congress had to affirm the Act – and they did… yet Congress didn’t pass a national law until the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

What does this have to do with Celebration?  As we sat in the Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall in Juneau we watched native dancing, listened to stories, heard Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian language spoken, and saw the joy and pride of native people – free to wear their family symbols and to enjoy the camaraderie of their fellow tribal members.  Celebration’s importance and popularity shows that a lot of progress has been made against discrimination of native people in Alaska, but I’m sure it’s not eradicated.  Fighting against discrimination (of any kind) is on the shoulders of each one of us.  As they say in the Florida Keys, we are all equal members of One Human Family.  With that as the backdrop, now it’s time to finish showing you the sights and sounds of Celebration 2018…

Our favorite dances are the ones that animate a story, such as the Raven dance clip in the video.  Some of the stories are traditional ones, but as you saw towards the end of the video there’s plenty of humor too.Everyone howled with laughter at the Star Wars-themed “Darth Raven” dance, complete with light sabers.

I only know one word of Tlingit – it’s “thank you”.  Gunałchéesh to all the dancers, drummers, and singers!

We’ve been off the grid more than on it over the past few weeks so I haven’t been able to make any posts… as usual, I’m behind.  We’ve been in places where the fjord walls are so tall and steep that we can’t even get the satellite phone or satellite radio to work… and we’ve had these spots all to ourselves.  Heavenly.

I want to share some more photos from Celebration, including some from my favorite event there – the Toddler Regalia Show.  This year they held it on the big stage rather than the more intimate venue from last time… resulting in a few more tots with that “deer in the headlights” look, and one little gal that just wasn’t having any of it.  But for those who adjusted to being on the big stage, it was impossible to decide who was the most adorable.  What’s special is that each piece of their regalia was hand-made for or by a family member.  Some are new pieces and some are family heirlooms, and every decorative element has meaning.I just love that the young are included in the dancing and singing, even little babies……and this one (below) was my favorite because every time his mom started banging on the drum (right in front of him!), he grinned and kicked his feet.The variety and detail of everyone’s regalia fascinates us.  All the time and work and care that goes into each piece……and the fact that each item says something personal about the wearer.Notice that in the photo above the man is wearing his military ribbons too.  Military veterans are highly respected among Alaskan natives, and we love to see people so proud of their service.

I have one more set of photos and some video that Jim shot of the dancing – that will be the next post.