Pataxó has no direct translation in English: it is the sound of water against stone as it travels to meet the sea. Once, the Pataxó people of coastal Brazil lived freely in the forests, river lands, and tropical shorelines of southern Bahia and northern Minas Gerais. But more than 500 years ago, Portuguese settlers invaded the region, leaving legacies of trauma, violence, and environmental destruction which linger today. The Pataxó’s ancestral territory—as well as the cosmologies and practices that root them to it—have been under continuous threat ever since. Only recently have community-led r ..read more

Skateboarding is a way of being in physical dialogue with the space around you, and although you can skate alone, its power is in convening and bringing community together. At the 2024 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, we sought to open such a space. So, on the corner of Jefferson Drive SW, in front of the National Museum of the American Indian, we set out a modest course of ramps, bars, and a shallow halfpipe. We were guided by the Indigenous athletes invited to present their talents and artistry: Di’Orr Greenwood (Diné), Manny Santiago (Taíno), Keith Secola, Jr. (Anishinaabe/Ute), and the eight ..read more

Halfway through their concert at the 2024 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, the band Pamyua paused to throw in an Arctic game demonstration. Peter Pilak Griggs (Yup’ik and Sugpiaq), a spirited nineteen-year-old, sprawled on the floor, readied himself for a leap. Prompted by the audience’s chant of uh-oh-a, rising and falling like a seal’s wail, he sprang forward on fists and toes, channeling his Indigenous ancestors who sprang across the ice in sync with the seals they sought to harpoon. The game, known as the “seal hop,” is one of Phillip Blanchett’s favorites. The Pamyua founder and record-sett ..read more

By the time David A. Boxley was born in 1952, Tsimshian traditions involving song, art, dance, and regalia had been outlawed or almost forgotten for nearly a century in his village of Metlakatla, Alaska. Boxley described the Anglican missionary who came to northern British Columbia in the late nineteenth century as “so very successful” in moving Tsimshian (pronounced like sim-she-ann) people away from their homes and into an assimilated island village in southeastern Alaska. The founding of Metlakatla followed the banning of traditions that were foundational to the cultural vitality of Tsimshi ..read more

In the Indigenous Maya Mam language, the term awal translates to “the sower.” Marimba Maya AWAL, founded by Julia Sanchez and Luisa Lopez in the Washington, D.C., area in 2005, aims to sow the knowledge of their Maya ancestors from the mountainous west of Guatemala for future generations. At the 2024 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, the group performed “Sal Negra,” a marimba piece traditional to Guatemala. Its title references the black salt found in rivers that Indigenous communities use in traditional foods. The melodic percussion instrument was brought from Africa during the transatlantic sla ..read more

Hālau ʻŌhi‘a traveled from the island of Hawai‘i to share traditional mele and oli (chants) with visitors at the 2024 Smithsonian Folklife Festival’s Indigenous Voices of the Americas program. Oli refers to both the chant culture and the vocalized components, while mele are poetic or lyrical compositions. Together, they nurture community and harmony with the natural world. Tone, rhythm, and meaning in oli are as diverse as its uses, which include storytelling, genealogy, and ceremony. Kekuhi Keali’ikanaka’oleohaililani, leader of Hālau ʻŌhi‘a, invited the audience to chant with her and learn h ..read more

Traditional storytelling can serve many purposes: explaining why things are the way they are, exemplifying how to be a better person, or… poking fun at your friends. The Indigenous storytellers at the 2024 Smithsonian Folklife Festival shared all these types of stories and more. On Sunday, June 30, all four storytellers gathered in the National Museum of the American Indian’s Amphitheater for a one-time-only Storytelling Roundtable, each taking the stage for a delightful, participatory performance. Across the continent and across cultures, the troublemaker character of Rabbit made multiple app ..read more

“The games are like a prayer.” —Phillip Blanchett The anticipation and uproar on the National Mall was palpable watching Peter Griggs execute a strong two-foot-high kick. This kick requires the athlete to jump and kick, with both feet, a hanging target, then they must land on two feet and maintain perfect balance. Two-foot-high kicks were among the many tradition-based Inuit games demonstrated at the 2024 Smithsonian Folklife Festival by “Pamyua and Friends”: Phillip Blanchett (Yup’ik), Peter Pilak Griggs (Yup’ik/Sugpiaq), and London Walker. As an intern stationed at the Festival’s Sports & ..read more

“Silk? From Mexico?” Many visitors were surprised as they admired a delicate white rebozo, a type of shawl, exhibited in the Zapotec Weaving tent in the 2024 Smithsonian Folklife Festival’s Indigenous Voices of the Americas program. “A lot of people don’t know there are communities in Mexico creating beautiful silk textiles,” said Moisés Martínez, a member of Yagaa, a collective dedicated to growing and crafting silk pieces in San Pedro Cajonos, their hometown. Cajonos, a Zapotec community in the Villa Alta district of Oaxaca, is part of Mexico’s longstanding tradition of sericulture, or reari ..read more

“I was born in the middle of the jungle, where we are connected by river—not by road.” By the time he was eight years old, Johnson Cerda found himself alone at Lake Limoncocha every day after school. His household chores were to fish for his family’s meals, and he took it upon himself to catch extra for families in need. One day, he met two kittens on his walk home. Their fluffy and spotted fur framed large blue eyes and tickled his underarms as he tucked one beneath each arm. He walked back, without any fish, but with two new pets. “No, no, no. You have to put them back. Why did you bring the ..read more