As National Native American Heritage Month comes to a close, Gayle Anderson took a look at the special Rose Parade Float honoring Native Americans.
Celebrating its 21st year in the Rose Parade, the OneLegacy Donate Life Rose Parade float celebrates the rich culture of the Hopi tribe, native to the American Southwest, known for outstanding pottery, paintings, weaving and carvings.
Serving 10 transplant centers and more than 200 hospitals, OneLegacy is a nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives through organ, eye and tissue donation in seven counties in Southern California: a diverse population of 20 million donors, families and waiting recipients across the region and country.
At the forefront of the float is a beautiful Butterfly dancer wearing a symbolic headdress, representing the Hopi Butterfly Dance—a ceremony honoring butterfly pollination and abundant crop harvests. Scattered among a lively cactus scene lie woven baskets adorned with memorial floragraphs of deceased donors embedded into the intricate design, signifying those who gave the gift of life through organ, eye, and tissue donation. Organ, eye and tissue recipients ride the float, while living donors walk beside it. Hopi dancers surround the float, inviting abundance, hope and prosperity.
This impressive Native American scene is completed with prickly pear plants, stalks of corn and fluttering butterflies. Similar to the 2024 Tournament of Roses theme, “Celebrating a World of Music,” organ donation transcends cultural boundaries, uniting people worldwide through the gift of life and the transformative impact of organ donation, bridging cultures and bringing communities together.
Becoming an eye, organ or tissue donor is easy and can be done by registering online at donateLIFEcalifornia.org/OneLegacy or by check marking “YES” at your local DMV. For more information, visit OneLegacy.org.
To learn more about the OneLegacy Rose Parade Float and the other Rose Parade Floats under construction at Fiesta Parade Floats visit fiestaparadefloats.com.
If you have questions, please feel free to contact Gayle Anderson at 323-460-5732, email Gayle at Gayle.Anderson@KTLA.com, Facebook: Gayle Anderson, Instagram and Threads: ktlachannel5gayle, and X (Formerly Known as Twitter): KTLA5Gayle.
Gayle Anderson reports for the KTLA 5 News at 8 a.m. on Nov. 29, 2023.
