Children 2 and under will join in the live regalia review where they will receive a certificate of participation, Saturday June 3, 3-4 p.m., at Centennial Hall.

The idea for a baby parade came when Rosita Worl's grandchild Sage entered a baby regalia contest in the 2005 Indian Eskimo Olympics in Fairbanks and won. Rosita Worl is president of the Sealaska Heritage Institute.

Worl said she enjoyed making the regalia that Sage's mother insisted she make and seeing him in the contest made her proud.

After the Olympics, the Celebration board of trustees adopted this year's theme, "Reflections of Our Ancestors in the Faces of Our Children."

When Worl heard the theme, the idea came to her:

"What a better way to portray our theme than with a baby parade," she said.

She was emphatic, however, that the Celebration parade have no winners or losers because "all babies are equally cute and we really just want an opportunity to show off our children."

Sage Worl, grandson of Rosita Worl, poses for a photo at the Indian Eskimo Olympics in Fairbanks. Sage won first place.

Entrants must state who made the baby regalia and describe the crest. Each baby will go up on stage accompanied by up to four people because organizers don't want the babies to get frightened or nervous.

Alaska Native regalia and crests, historically worn at potlatches, are based on spiritual relationships to the environment, to animals and ancestors holding deep meaning for those who make them and wear them.

Chilkat and Raven's Tail woven robes are two kinds of traditional regalia, which Alaska Native writer Suzi Vaara Williams describes in an essay "The Essence of Chilkat Weaving."

"The essence of Chilkat weaving is purity," Williams says. "In the old days, only a very high-cast woman would weave. Through her life she was taught about respect, discipline, patience and diligence. She was taught responsibility, and she was educated about spirits. In the weaving of the robe, all these qualities were required. The woman would fast, refraining from food, and submit herself as a pure vessel for the energy/spirit of the weaving to flow through her. More than anything the weaver was an interpreter."

Photo by Foulke & Hudson   Foulke & Hudson Lauren Walicki poses in baby regalia.

Crests are markers for meaningful and unusual events like birth and marriage, that occurred to specific maternal ancestors at specific times and places.