OneLegacy Donate Life 2024 Rose Parade Float to Celebrate Hopi Culture

Organ, eye and tissue donation organization OneLegacy announced Wednesday that its 2024 float for the Pasadena Rose Parade will feature a Hopi Butterfly Dancer and showcase the rich heritage of the Native American group.

The float, with the theme “Woven Together: The Dance of Life,” will honor the culture and traditions of the Hopi, who are native to the American Southwest and known for their weaving and artistry, a statement by OneLegacy said. The float will also highlight the theme of organ donation as a way of connecting people from different backgrounds and beliefs.

“We are especially honored to partner with the Hopi Tribal Council leaders to ensure our float is authentic and representative of their culture,” Tom Mone, Chairman of the OneLegacy Donate Life float committee and OneLegacy’s Chief External Affairs Officer, said. “Each year, we strive to share that the love and caring for one another that makes transplantation possible, knows no bounds. We continue to partner with organizations in California and nationwide to share the importance of saying ‘YES’ to organ, eye, and tissue donation with millions of people watching the Rose Parade on New Year’s Day.”

OneLegacy said the float will feature a butterfly dancer wearing an intricate headdress. Surrounding the dancer are traditionally woven baskets of corn and other fruits. Memorial floragraphs honoring life-giving organ, eye, and tissue donors will be displayed on the baskets. 

Transplant recipients will ride on the float, and living donors will walk alongside it. The Native American scene will be complete with prickly pear plants, stalks of corn, and fluttering butterflies, OneLegacy’s statement said. 

In Hopi culture, the Butterfly Dance is a two-day ceremonial social dance for young people in northern Arizona’s Hopi villages during late summer and early fall to celebrate the corn harvest. The women dress in elaborate headdresses called tablitas, which have symbols of corn, butterflies, and prayers. The dance pays homage to the butterflies that pollinate the corn, thus helping the crop prosper. 

OneLegacy said the float design was created by Charles Meier and will be built by Fiesta Parade Floats. More than a thousand volunteers will help decorate the float with organic materials before it makes its debut on New Year’s Day in Pasadena.

OneLegacy has been participating in the Rose Parade since 2004 and won the Sweepstakes Award, the highest honor, in 2023. 

The organization aims to inspire people to register as organ donors and save lives.

To learn more about OneLegacy, visit www.onelegacy.org.