WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson and members of the Alaskan congressional delegation celebrated Alaskan culture and inter-state unity at the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree lighting ceremony on the Capitol’s West Lawn Tuesday night.
A crowd of a couple hundred people gathered to see the 80-foot-tall Sitka spruce, which traveled over 4,000 miles from the Tongass National Forest in southeast Alaska, the largest national forest in the U.S.
“As this tree is placed in front of the Capitol, we remember that this is ‘The People’s House,’” Johnson said. “And that means that this tree is truly ‘The People’s Tree.’”
The tree, harvested on Wrangell Island Oct. 19, is the second National Christmas Tree to hail from Alaska. After a monthslong cross-country tour, the tree arrived at the Capitol on Nov. 22.
Alaskan culture was on full display at the ceremony, from the tree’s 15,000 ornaments handmade by Alaskan schoolchildren to the blessing and song presented by the Shtaxʼhéen Ḵwáan people, the Tlingit tribe native to Wrangell Island.
“For the Tlingit people, the trees are our life-givers,” said Esther Ashton-Reese, the tribal administrator of the Wrangell Cooperative Association, the local tribal organization. “They’re how we create our canoes, our homes and our totems, which tell our stories. They are a connection to our ancestors.”
Since 1964, the tree lighting ceremony has showcased a tree from a different national forest each year, selected by the Architect of the Capitol.
Governor Mike Dunleavy, R-Alaska, Senators Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, gave remarks at the ceremony. Murkowski highlighted the accomplishments of the students at Wrangell High School who designed the misting system that kept the tree healthy on its journey to Washington.
Johnson lit the tree with fourth-grade Alaskan student Rose Burke, winner of the Capitol Christmas Tree Essay Contest. They counted down from five in unison and lit the colorful tree as the U.S. Air Force Band played “O Christmas Tree.”
After the tree is taken down, it won’t go to waste, explained Tom Roland, a silviculturist with the Chugach National Forest and Capitol Christmas Tree team lead. Its branches will be mulched and used on the Capitol grounds and the bowl of the tree will be sent to a local mill and used by the Wrangell Cooperative Association, he said.
The tree will be lit every night from dusk to 11 p.m. until Jan. 1.
