Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Arts & Culture / Trends & Traditions

Armenian shadow puppetry is a technique whose origins can be traced to the 1300s. The puppet theater group known as Ayrogi has set out to keep this imaginative art form alive.

Armenia

Illuminating the Shadowy Art of Armenian Puppet Theater

Tricksters and beasts dance across the imagination in these silhouetted puppet shows

Over the course of the 2018 Folklife Festival, experienced artisans worked hand in hand with crochet novices to decorate a humble tree of life.

Armenia

Armenia’s “Tree of Life” Tradition Took Root Thousands of Years Ago, and Has Only Grown Since

The tree adorned in this year’s Smithsonian Folklife Festival will continue to blossom overseas

A restaurant in Bishopville, S.C. markets the town’s association to the Lizard Man.

A Search for Mysteries and Monsters in Small Town America

How monster festivals became American pilgrimage sites

The giants and big heads have been a hit among Folklife Festival-goers, says performer Jesus Bach Marques. "They're amazed by our giants! For most of them, it's something really new."

Catalonia

For Hundreds of Years, Papier-Mâché Has Lent a Surreal Face to Catalan Culture

Street performers disguised as Giants and Big Heads blend reverence with ribaldry at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival

Water throwing on Vardavar is a holiday unique to Armenia.

Armenia

The Point of Armenia’s Splashy Holiday Is Getting Wet

The ancient tradition of Vardavar attracts tourists to Armenia, but bring a change of clothes

"My goal with music is to represent myself in a natural and sincere way," says musician Alidé Sans, "and what is more natural and sincere than an Aranese woman expressing herself in Aranese?"

Catalonia

This Musician’s Songs Give Powerful Voice to a Language in Crisis

Singer and linguistic activist Alidé Sans hails from an isolated Catalan valley where a rare dialect is spoken

Each spring the Festival de Sopes del Món Mundial (World Soup Festival) takes place in Barcelona, the capital of Spain’s Catalonia region.

Catalonia

How Soup Nourishes Barcelona’s Tradition of Welcoming Immigrants

In the town plaza of Nou Barris, a festival feast mixes together the spices and flavorings of the world’s cuisines

Knights of the SMOTJ wear the red cross pattée, believed to have been first used by the Knights Templar in 1147.

Meet the Americans Following in the Footsteps of the Knights Templar

Disbanded 700 years ago, the most famous of the medieval Christian orders is undergoing a 21st century revival

Miqayel Voskanyan plays the tar, an Armenian folk instrument.

Armenia

These Soulful, Soothing Armenian Songs and Instrumentals Blend East With West

Performers from all over the globe gather with traditional instruments to perform at this year’s Folklife Festival

Band members Yacine Belahcene Benet, Massinissa Aït-Ahmed, Gabriel Fletcher and Alexandre Guitart of "Yacine and the Oriental Grove" incorporate North African and Mediterranean musical traditions, as well as genres such as reggae and rock and roll.

Catalonia

Some of Barcelona’s Most Acclaimed Musicians Will Rock and Rumba Washington D.C.

Six acclaimed Catalan musical acts introduce Folklife Festival-goers to Mediterranean rock, habanera, rumbero and rumba

McNamara (in 2013 in Nazaré) still surfs its monster waves, despite the risks. Last year, a fall broke champion British surfer Andrew Cotton’s back.

What It Took to Set the World Record for Surfing

Brazilian surfer Rodrigo Koxa had to conquer PTSD before he was ready to break Garrett McNamara’s world record

An artist's rendering of the Capitol dome as seen through Harvey Pratt's proposed "Warriors' Circle of Honor"

This Innovative Memorial Will Soon Honor Native American Veterans

The National Museum of the American Indian has reached a final decision on which design to implement

Arev Armenian Dance Ensemble

Armenia

How Armenian Dance Adapted Over Time and Place

Choreography, music and technique are on tap at a Folklife Festival Dance Summit

In an effort to keep the fad alive, Wham-O created new hoops, including one in 1982 that smelled of mint.

The Iconic Hula Hoop Keeps on Rolling

How the loopy 60-year-old toy maintains its popularity

The chevrons on the Panther's early suit, and the tessellated triangles on his later model, hint at the "sacred geometry" of triangular forms common to several African cultures.

King T’Challa’s Black Panther Suit, a Bold Statement of Afrofuturist Pride, Comes to the Smithsonian

Pounce on the opportunity to celebrate contemporary African-African filmmaking at the National Museum of African American History and Culture this fall

Reunir el públic nord-americà amb artistes tradicionals i populars per compartir la seva creativitat -i les seves vides- comença la conversa.

Catalonia

Festival de Folklife Com a Principiant de Conversa

El director Michael Atwood Mason reflexiona sobre els poders transformadors de l’intercanvi cultural

Bringing the American public together with folk and traditional artists to share their creativity—and their lives—starts the conversation.

Here’s How to Have a More Meaningful Experience at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival

Director Michael Atwood Mason reflects on the transformative powers of cultural exchange

Teams compete to form the tallest human towers, called castells—a centuries-old activity that creates quite the spectacle in Catalan public spaces.

Beyond the Headlines, Catalan Culture Has a Long History of Vibrancy and Staying Power

The autonomous Spanish region of Catalonia takes center stage at this summer’s Smithsonian Folklife Festival

The Armenian countryside on the road from Yerevan to Vanadzor.

Unfurling the Rich Tapestry of Armenian Culture

This year’s Smithsonian Folklife Festival will offer a window on Armenian visions of home

Among the colorful characters immortalized in the colorless daguerreotype medium are (clockwise from upper left): writer Henry Thoreau, Seneca leader Blacksnake, Navy Commodore Matthew Perry, mental health crusader Dorothea Dix, showmen P.T. Barnum and Tom Thumb, and actress Charlotte Cushman.

How Daguerreotype Photography Reflected a Changing America

The National Portrait Gallery brings the eerie power of a historic medium into focus

Page 4 of 25