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FAIRBANKS — The art of Southeast Alaska’s indigenous peoples has fascinated Americans of European extraction for as long as they have known about it. The traditional arts of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian are generally acknowledged as among the most highly developed found anywhere in the Western Hemisphere.

A number of factors led to the revival of traditional dance, music, and arts in Southeast Alaska. Among them was the passage of the Alaska Native Lands Claim Act in 1971. This led to the formation of the Sealaska Corporation as the economic arm of the Native interests in the area. This corporation in turn formed and financed the Sealaska Heritage Institute as a nonprofit center for reviving and nurturing the traditional arts and restoring a sense of pride and cultural identity among the region’s young Natives.

Among the steps taken toward this end was a small gathering in 1982 called Celebration in which roughly 200 participants gathered to recreate their long-dormant dances and to recover and renew their culture. Little could they have suspected that they were initiating what would become an enormous event, held every other year, where today some 2,000 dancers, artists, elders, children and many others come together in a festival that not only commemorates their history, but also pushes it forward into the new millennium.

This brings us to a beautifully produced book, “Celebration,” which documents through photographs and some brief essays what is now the largest cultural event in Alaska. Published by the Sealaska Heritage Institute, this book pays tribute to the many participants who make Celebration occur. Perhaps more significantly, for nonnative people like myself accustomed to seeing Native art in the sterile settings of museums, art books and the like, this book allows us a glimpse of how these items are used in dances and provides a sense of context that can’t be otherwise had.

Blessed with abundant food sources, a relatively mild climate, and a vast trading network, the residents of this region developed complex societies, deeply layered cosmologies, and numerous rituals that were acted out while wearing elaborate costumes.

The art that developed alongside these rituals held deep spiritual significance for the people who created it. But for white immigrants, it was merely a curiosity, albeit one that they actively sought out.

The blankets, headdresses, feathered fans, drums, tunics and, especially, the finely crafted masks that often opened up to reveal a second mask within, started getting snatched up by collectors and museums shortly after the United States purchased Alaska.

It’s a wonder that Native cultures survived at all, given the racism, poverty, displacement, and other obstacles they faced. But a few people continued to quietly maintain traditional practices in their homes. So when the civil rights struggles of the ‘60s and ‘70s brought a renewed self-awareness to Native Americans, there were still some elders ready to pass on what they had preserved.

What leaps out first from the colorful pages of this book is the deep red that permeates virtually all of the region’s artwork. Shawls, headbands, paintings, carvings and more are adorned with it, alongside the black and tan that contrast with it so well.

We also get to see drums being beaten, hats being worn, masks being opened, fans raised in the air, and hundreds of people dancing on the stage at Centennial Hall in Juneau where Celebration takes place. The book is at times dizzying to look at, with so much happening on its pages. The editors of this book have taken great pains to identify as many of the dancers by name as possible. Every participant is a star here.

The event has grown large enough that many groups now participate. The members of these groups practice for months prior to the gathering. It’s a tremendous effort involving an enormous number of people, and their commitment and energy are demonstrated on every page of this book.

Rosita Worl, current president of the Sealaska Heritage Institute, contributes most of the essays found here. She provides a brief history of the event, explains some of the significance of the art (particularly the masks), and reminds readers of the importance of involving both the elders and the youngest children as a means of transmitting the culture forward.

There are lots of kids pictured here, but perhaps more heartening is the presence of teenagers. Given today’s adolescent angst, it’s nice to see the older kids not only involved, but also adding their own spin to the event. One picture shows a group of teenaged boys with backwards baseball hats and tightly braided hair performing a dance with a bit of a hip-hop twist.

It wasn’t long ago that events like Celebration would have been disallowed. This book, like the happening it documents, testifies to the resilience of a people who took a tremendous beating but never gave up. As author Maria Williams tells us in her essay, “Celebration has given us a rare opportunity to look back, but also to look forward. In essence, this is our spirit and who we are as Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian, who we are as indigenous people. We are the children of survivors — those who fought for our land, our human rights, and our cultural legacy.”