Hundreds of Sitkans and visitors lined Lincoln Street for the annual celebration of Alaska Day on October 18. The Sitka Pioneer Home was honored as the grand marshal in this year’s parade — fitting for the theme, “Caring for Our Elders.” The multi-day festival sponsored by the Alaska Day Committee included everything from formal balls and concerts to the annual pie sale, and culminated in the Sitka Historical Society’s sixth annual Brewfest on Tuesday evening.

Amid all of the festivities, a movement to acknowledge “Reconciliation Day” continued to gain momentum, with a mourning ceremony after the parade.

Director Andrew Hames leads the Sitka High School marching band (KCAW/Katherine Rose)
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The annual transfer ceremony, which recognizes the transfer of land from Russia to the United States in 1867, followed the parade at the top of Castle Hill/Noow Tlein. (KCAW/Tash Kimmell)
As the transfer ceremony took place on Castle Hill, an equally large group gathered below on Harbor Drive to observe Reconciliation Day, acknowledging that the “Alaska Day” holiday commemorates the sale of stolen land from one colonial power to another. Since 2017, Kiks.ádi clan members have held a mourning ceremony at the base of the hill, and the ceremony has grown each year. Over 100 attended on Tuesday (KCAW/Rose)
Yeidikook’áa Dionne Brady-Howard speaks to the crowd at the Mourning Ceremony. “We can’t move forward from the loss of language. We can’t move forward from the loss of our land…until more people acknowledge what has happened. But we see that happening here in Sheet’ka,” she said. She encouraged attendees to get involved with upcoming events for Native American Heritage Month in November, which will include Lingít language and culture courses, panels and film screenings. “In spite of the cultural genocide, in spite of colonialism, colonizers weren’t able to wipe us out. Colonizers weren’t able to completely kill our languages. We’re revitalizing our languages. Any time that we speak our Lingít language, any time people speak their other Indigenous languages, then we are decolonizing.” (KCAW/Kimmell)