"Man, it's overwhelming," Pamyua's Phillip Blanchett said before the band took to the main stage set up on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. "This is exactly what we've been waiting for. This moment. All this energy."

Pamyua had a lot of company representing Alaska at the opening of the latest of the renowned Smithsonian Institution museums on the Mall. Natives from Barrow to Metlakatla, many dressed in traditional regalia, joined other indigenous peoples from around the Western Hemisphere. Organizers estimated that, including Natives and onlookers, about 80,000 people took part in the celebration of a museum meant to be a Native gathering place for generations.

"I think it is fantastic," said Ori Williams of Fairbanks, president and chief executive officer of Doyon Ltd., who was dressed in a traditional Athabascan caribou-skin tunic with decorative beadwork. "It is 100 years too late. But it is fantastic."

Alaskans and other Native Americans spoke of the importance of being recognized with the creation of the 250,000 square foot, curving, honey-colored limestone museum in front of the U.S. Capitol. Some called it a step toward reconciliation of a history filled with conflict.

Speakers talked of genocide and of the Third World conditions many Native peoples live in throughout the hemisphere. But the overwhelming feeling was one of respect and excitement.

The opening procession was an experience of vivid color, incense and pounding drums. Native Hawaiians in leis and flowered garb blew conch shells.

Great Plains Indians with eagle-feather headdresses and buckskin clothing walked solemnly. Indigenous dancers from Mexico -- one with a fearsome skull mask and peacock-feather headdress -- drew crowds with intensely energized dances and heavy, pounding drums.

Tlingits, with red-and-black robes, carved-wood paddles and slow, concentrated dances, also stood out among the thousands.

"This is beautiful. There are so many different tribes," said Barrow Inupiat David Leavitt Jr., who was taking pictures.

Many Alaska Natives planned to mix politicking with their celebration of the museum. Native corporations or tribes paid for their trips.

But others, like members of the Tsimshian Haldane family originally from Metlakatla, paid their own way down from Alaska for the opening.

Tuesday's opening marked the beginning of a six-day "First Alaskans" festival of music, food and artistic displays on the Mall.

The National Museum of the American Indian is to remain open for 30 straight hours in an attempt to accommodate the crowds who want see it. Like all Smithsonian museums, it is free.

It contains objects and displays of indigenous peoples from the Arctic to South America, with a look both at the past and present.

That includes more than 100 Alaska objects, such as an Aleut hunting hat of cedar and sea lion whiskers and an exquisite blown-glass Tlingit raven. There is also a display of the Southwest Alaska Yup'ik culture and lifestyle.

The federal government contributed $119 million to create the museum; $100 came from private sources. Alaskan donors included Native corporations and the Rasmuson Foundation of Anchorage, which gave more than $5 million. A 341-seat theater on the main floor will be named the Elmer and Mary Louise Rasmuson Theater. It will host dance, live music, theater performances, lectures and seminars.

Critics have gushed about the museum building, with its nonlinear curves and soaring architecture, and called it a stunning addition to the landscape of the National Mall. But the museum exhibits have drawn mixed reviews. Some have lauded its first-person voice, featuring Natives telling their own stories. Other reviewers have complained that the exhibits are too sparse, or cramped, with cultures mashed together.

Several Alaska Natives who got a preview look at the museum said they loved it.

The Smithsonian worked closely with a group of elders from the Bethel area in putting together the Yup'ik display. Yup'ik Marie Mead accompanied the elders, who speak little or no English, to Washington to see the result for the first time on a tour Monday. Mead said their reaction was one of "overwhelming joy."

"They thought their voice was heard, their voice was visibly recognized," she said.

"They are acknowledged."