This Indigenous Peoples Day, we’re sharing a few family photos from Celebration 2026 in Juneau, Alaska!

Celebration is a very special event for our family and thousands of Indigenous families from across the nation. Our family matriarch, Dr. Rosita Worl, is president of Sealaska Heritage Institute, which hosts this incredible gathering. She has dedicated her life to preserving and celebrating our cultures for generations to come.

First held in 1982, Celebration brings Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian people together to celebrate cultural survival and ensure that traditional songs, dances, stories, and knowledge are passed on to future generations. Today, it is one of Alaska’s largest Indigenous cultural gatherings. Every other year, thousands of clan members and visitors gather in Juneau for several days of traditional song and dance, clan stories, and stunning regalia.

For our family, it’s a time to reconnect, celebrate our heritage, and take a ton of photos! Scroll down for the fam jam photos.

Rico brought something extra special to Celebration this year! He wore a beautiful new woven vest created by his wife's Aunt Rosie Ann Taylor (Diné), a master Navajo weaver and recipient of the Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Award from First Peoples Fund. Her work honors the enduring tradition of Navajo weaving and the importance of keeping cultural knowledge alive.

Rico’s wife, Brittany Gene, is from the Navajo Nation and wore a newly carved “White Bear” hat. Brittany’s Diné clan introduction reflects her family lineage: she is of the Towering House clan and born for the Water Coming Together; her maternal grandfather’s people are of the Big Water clan, and her paternal grandfather’s father people are of the Beneath the Shelves/Folder Arms clan.

Brittany was also adopted into the Chilkat Shangukeidí (Thunderbird) Clan of Kawdliyaayi Hít (House Lowered from the Sun) in Klukwan. And yes, she has quite a long introduction at clan gatherings!

We love seeing different Indigenous cultures come together through family, art, and shared traditions. It’s a beautiful reminder of why cultural exchange, honoring our connections, and keeping our traditions alive matter so much.

Want to learn more about Celebration and its history?

Visit the Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Celebration website to learn more about this extraordinary gathering.

From our family to yours, Happy Indigenous Peoples Day! 🪶❤️

Tlingit Nation meets (and marries into) the Navajo Nation

Crystal and good friend Tristan danced the Rumpl's blankets designed by Crystal into the 2026 Celebration at grand entrance

Celebration brings families together that have not seen each other in  long time!  Tricksters' father, Aunt and Uncle.

Grand Entrance of the Chilkat Shangukeidí (Thunderbird) Clan of Kawdliyaayi Hít (House Lowered from the Sun) in Klukwan and Master Carver Nathan Jackson, Raven from the Chilkoot Lukaax̱.ádi Clan (Sockeye), of the Yéil Hít of Haines, Alaska.

Trickster's Manager of Everything (me) and her extraordinary mother-in-law - Dr. Rosita Worl.