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Category: Holidays

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Happy Holidays from the American Folklife Center!

Posted by: Stephen Winick

The staff of the American Folklife Center wishes you all the best for the Holiday season and the coming year. In this picture, we pose by the Christmas Tree in the Great Hall of the Library of Congress, with some of us still in the costumes we wore in the AFC Mummers Play, St. George, …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

St. George, the Dragon, and the Squid: A Preservation Mumming

Posted by: Stephen Winick

Note: Every year, in the week before Christmas, staff members of the American Folklife Center put our research and performance skills into play, bringing collections to life in a dramatic performance that tours the halls of the Library of Congress.  Dressed in costumes that range from striking to silly, we sing, act, rhyme, and dance …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

#FolklifeHalloween2014 Rolls On!

Posted by: Stephen Winick

If you’ve been following Folklife Today recently, you’ll know that we’re in the midst of collecting people’s photos of Halloween and Dia de los Muertos in a new online collecting initiative. We still want you to share your photos!  Find out how in our previous blog posts featuring an overview of the project and step-by-step …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

FolklifeHalloween2014 is Underway!

Posted by: Stephen Winick

FolklifeHalloween2014 is underway!  This is the first day we’ve asked people to share their Halloween and Day of the Dead photos on Flickr with the tag #FolklifeHalloween2014.  Of course, a few early birds had already begun to use the tag last week, like Daniel Baker, whose photo from 2009 is above. Others shared photos of …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

So You Want to Share Your Halloween Photos?

Posted by: Stephen Winick

Last week Trevor Owens and I posted to this blog, asking people to share their Halloween photos with us this year in an experimental online collecting project.  That post is important, and if you want to participate you should read it at this link.  But in case that much detail leaves you feeling bummed like …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Share Your Photos of Halloween

Posted by: Stephen Winick

The following is a post I wrote jointly with Trevor Owens of the Library’s Office of Strategic Initiatives, with input from many colleagues throughout the Library of Congress. Share your photos of Halloween, Día de los Muertos, and related holidays with AFC and the World! #FolklifeHalloween2014 Halloween, All Souls Day, All Saints Day, Día de …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

A Sampler of Luso-Hispanic American Music and Song

Posted by: Stephanie Hall

The collections of the American Folklife Center reflect a long history of ethnographic interest in Luso-Hispanic American music and song. Much of the early collecting work focused on peoples of the regions that formerly belonged to Spain. In this post I’ll provide a quick overview of the Hispanic-American music in AFC’s online collections. Spanish Songs …