Smithsonian Center for Folklife & Cultural Heritage

A young girl poses outside a building, wearing a dark coat, layers of skirts, and a kerchief over her hair, holding a broom in one hand and a kettle in the other. Black-and-white photo.

The Swedish Witch Trials Teach Us How to Confront Dark Heritage

At first glance, the tradition of Påskkärring, or “Easter Hags,” seems quite innocent, but deeper study reveals a dark history, one of oppression and persecution.

Digital illustration of a large mothlike figure, flying above a forested area and a single car driving down a road at nights. Its eyes are glowing red.

West Virginia's Mothman Leads Cryptid Renaissance

The creature has risen from local appearances to the national stage as a leader in the cryptid revival of the last twenty years.

Several men and women dressed in all black, standing in formation with a towering stone mountain behind them.

A Catalan Choir Reinterprets Musician Raimon’s Anti-Fascist Lyrics

The Coral Càrmina of Catalonia answers the challenge to arrange a song from the Smithsonian Folkways catalog.

Bowls of citrus fruits including lemons, limes, and oranges, are arranged on a striped, bright green table cloth. Behind the bowls are jars filled with various superfoods including Goji berries.

La Cultura Cura: How Latinos Are Reclaiming Their Ancestral Diets

Whole Foods certainly didn't invent chia seeds.

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