Top of page
By: Stephanie Hall
Note: This is part of a series of blog posts about the 40th Anniversary Year of the American Folklife Center. Visit this link to see them all! April 29 is International Dance Day, established by the International Dance Council (CID) in 1982 to call attention to the importance of dance worldwide. So get your dances …
Posted in: Folklife Today
By: Megan Harris
As I mentioned in my last post, on September 8th, the Veterans History Project (VHP) will release a new Experiencing War web feature to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. In the meantime, I’d like to shine a light on another one of the collections that will be included in …
Posted in: Folklife Today
By: Stephanie Hall
The earliest East Asian immigrants often had a difficult journey making their way to the United States. Many carried little with them but the cultural traditions they knew, such as language, stories, religious customs, foodways, music, song, and dance. Chinese Americans Chinese immigrants, mainly Cantonese speakers from Guangdong, were among the first Asians to come …
Posted in: Folklife Today
By: Lisa Taylor
I confess. I always get a little giddy in May. Maybe it’s because the longer, warmer days of May mark the impending arrival of summer, my absolute favorite season. Yes, I am one of the rare lovers of brutally hot, humid DC summers. Or maybe May brings out the giddiness in me because I admire …
Posted in: Folklife Today
By: Stephanie Hall
January 24, 2015 is the date for the Hindu festival Vasant Panchami or Saraswati Puja, celebrating both the coming of spring and the birthday of Saraswati, the goddess of wisdom, learning, crafts, and fine arts. The date for the celebration of Vasant Panchami varies from year to year, as it is calculated by a lunar calendar. It falls on …
Posted in: Folklife Today
By: Stephen Winick
In honor of Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month, we present this vintage AFC researcher photo. (And by “vintage,” I mean “prior to the existence of Folklife Today.”) This photo shows the stage, film, and television actor George Takei, best known as Mr. Sulu from the original Star Trek, who visited the AFC Reading Room on April …
Posted in: Folklife Today