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Press Release
May 30, 2008
(Radio Actualities)
CELEBRATION TO KICK OFF NEXT
WEEK
Sealaska
Heritage Institute (SHI) will kick off its biennial Celebration next
week, marking the 26th year since the inception of the
popular dance-and-culture festival.
The institute anticipates up to 5,000 people, including 52 dance groups and approximately 2,300 dancers from Alaska, Canada and the Lower 48, will attend Celebration 2008, held in Juneau at Centennial Hall, the Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall, and the Juneau Arts and Culture Center. SHI will announce winners of its biennial Juried Art Show and Competition on June 4. Dance performances and other events are scheduled June 5-7. The theme is “Tlingit, Haida Tsimshian Dancing on the Land.”
SHI for the first time will hold a soapberry contest during Celebration. The institute will award prizes for the top three best soapberries, a rare treat among Native people. Soapberries are tiny, bitter berries usually found near glaciers. People whip them into a froth and often add sweeteners. Preparation can be tricky, said SHI President Rosita Worl.
“You take a teaspoon
of berries and whip it up and it will become a very large bowl of frothy
– it looks like soap. But if you don’t do it right, you’re not going to
be able to whip it up,” said Worl, noting one of the goals is to
introduce kids to traditional foods. “We hope this is one of the ways
for our younger people to see this kind of specialty food we have.”
The festival also will feature lectures by artists and authors,
including one by Nora and Dr. Richard Dauenhauer on their new book “Anóoshi
Lingít Aaní Ká: Russians in Tlingit America, The Battles of Sitka
1802 and 1804,” published by SHI and the University of Washington Press.
Dr. Tom Thornton also will give a talk on his new book “Being and Place
Among the Tlingit,” published by the University of Washington Press in
association with SHI. All three authors will do book signings
immediately after. SHI also will release its first photo book of
Celebration during the festival titled Celebration: Tlingit, Haida,
Tsimshian Dancing on the Land.
In addition, SHI will sponsor DNA testing during Celebration to
determine if a young Native man who lived 10,300 years ago has living
descendants in Southeast Alaska. Information from the DNA samples will
be compared to DNA extracted from the remains, which were discovered by
a paleontologist in 1996 in a cave on Prince of Wales Island.
Lead Researcher Dr. Brian Kemp from Washington State University and a team of colleagues will collect DNA samples from Native people in the lobby of Centennial Hall Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Kemp and his colleagues also spearheaded DNA research on the human remains, and their findings were reported last year in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.
Other events will include a black seaweed contest, a Toddler Regalia Review for kids ages 2-4, a parade through downtown, language workshops, a Juried Art Show and a Native Artist Market.
SHI will give awards for top contemporary and traditional art at its biennial Juried Art Show and Competition 4:30, June 4 at the Juneau Arts & Culture Center. Thirty-nine pieces by 19 artists were selected by juror and artist Steve Brown for inclusion in the show, scheduled June 4-27. The Native Artist Market will offer Native art made by 45 Native artists. The market will be open for the duration of Celebration.
Celebration was conceived in 1980 at the first Sealaska Elders conference. At that meeting, Elders asked Sealaska to help preserve and perpetuate the culture of the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people. In response, Sealaska founded the Sealaska Heritage Institute, and in 1982, the Institute organized the first Celebration. That first festival drew 12 dance groups and 150 people. Today, Celebration is one of the largest gatherings in the state.
Tickets will go on sale 10 am, Wednesday, at Centennial Hall. Three-day passes are $12 for students and Elders and $25 for adults. One-day tickets are $5 for students and Elders and $10 for adults.
The 2008 festival was sponsored by the following businesses, organizations and individuals: Sealaska Corporation, City and Borough of Juneau, National Endowment for the Arts, Carolyn M. Kleefeld, Kauffman and Associates, ConocoPhillips, Mary and Chris McNeil, Southeast Stevedoring, Wells Fargo, Boyer Towing, KPMG, Northwest Farm Credit Services, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, Perry, Johnson, Anderson, Miller, & Moskowitz LLP, Pyramid Communications, Sealaska Environmental Services LLC, University of Alaska Southeast, GCI, Alaska USA Mortgage, Dan Laforce DBA/Tee Harbor Construction, Elgee, Rehfeld, Mertz, Law Offices of Simpson, Tillinghast & Sorensen, P.C., Managed Business Solutions, LLC, Phoenix Logging, PilieroMazza PLLC, Prochot Enterprises, Terra Verde, Inc., Tee Harbor Construction, Anthony and Linda Mallott, Rosita Worl, Lee & Louise Kadinger, Alaska Electric Light & Power Co., Alaska Litho, Columbia Helicopters, Inc., Doyon Limited, Eagle Capital Management, Holland America Line, Inc., Jensen Yorba Lott, Juneau Lions Club, Nicole Hallingstad, Rick Harris and Pat Tynan, Timko International Co., Samuel Landol, Marlene Johnson, Sandy Samaniego, SEARHC, Jacqueline Johnson, Marjorie Young, Jodi Mitchell, Sarah Dybdahl, Zachary Jones, Michael Obert, Juneau Electric, Koniag, Inc., Northern Sales Company Inc., Otis Elevator Co., Jeane Breinig, Ethel Lund, Nancy Barnes, Resource Data, Inc., William G. Demmert, Byron and Antoinette Mallott, Andrew Williams, Lola Foss, Deena LaRue, Barbara Thurston, Consulting Actuary, Clarence Jackson, Sr., Debi and Tate London, Creative Source, Joe and Belen Cook, Martin Neff DBA/ Bootlegger, National Assessment, R.D. Brown Co., Robert Martin, Jr., Stanley Eberhard, Joe and Mary Nelson, Sidney Edenshaw, Walter Soboleff, Competitive Edge Office Systems, Inc., JUSTGIVE/Dreimer, Advanced Janitorial.
Sealaska Heritage Institute is a private, nonprofit founded in 1980 to administer cultural and educational programs for Sealaska Corporation. The institute is governed by an all-Native Board of Trustees and guided by a Council of Traditional Scholars. Its mission is to perpetuate and enhance Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian cultures of Southeast Alaska.
CONTACT: Rosita Worl, SHI president, 907-463-4844
-
Rosita Worl, SHI President, TRT: :14
“You take a teaspoon of berries and whip it up and it will become a
very large bowl of frothy – it looks like soap. But if you don’t do it
right, you’re not going to be able to whip it up.” (mpeg)
(wav)
- Rosita Worl, SHI President, TRT: :07 “We hope this is one of the ways for our younger people to see this kind of specialty food we have.” (mpeg) (wav)