Smithsonian Center for Folklife & Cultural Heritage

Various cobs of multicolored corn.

How Seeds Tell Stories

In the past century, there has been a seventy-five percent decline in agricultural biodiversity. When we fail to prioritize biodiversity, we risk erasing cultural diversity as well.

Carolyn Smith collecting beargrass in Klamath National Forest, 2015. For beargrass to be supple enough for weavers to use in their baskets, it needs to be burned annually. Ideally, it is burned in an intentionally set cultural fire, where only the tops are burned, leaving the roots intact. Prescribed fires in the Klamath National Forest are few and far between, so weavers “follow the smoke” and gather, when they can, after wildfires sweep through the landscape. (Photo courtesy of Carolyn Smith)

How Indigenous Ecological Knowledge Offers Solutions to California’s Wildfires

“We need to reintegrate Indigenous traditional ecological knowledge and cultural and prescribed burning into our landscape,” Carolyn Smith says.

The Indianola dock stretches out into the Puget Sound. Since time immemorial, the Suquamish Tribe has sourced their sustenance, folklore, and community from the salt waters and pebbly beaches of the sound. Photo by Julian White-Davis

The Struggle for Native Lands in Indianola, Washington

Indianola’s beaches were once the home of the Suquamish Tribe, or in their language, Southern Lushootseed, suq̀wabš—People of Clear Salt Water.

Master basket weaver Arthur Petrosyan sits and works on a project. (Photo by Narek Harutyunyan, My Armenia Program)

Travel the Sweetest Route through Vayots Dzor and Syunik, Armenia

Numerous popular traditions regarding beekeeping are associated with the medicinal properties of the use of beeswax. Grandpa Grisha, a beekeeper with 50 years of experience, remembers it all very well.

Sasun, a local guide, takes in the view of Mount Ughtasar. (My Armenia Program)

See Armenia Through the Eyes of a Local Guide

The landscape of Armenia is diverse. Often, there are several sub-regions within a single region, each with their own distinct set of tourist destinations

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