Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smithsonian Folklife Festival

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

The spectacular 13th-century Noravank monastery is situated among mountain cliffs in southern Armenia.

Armenia

This Free Virtual Reality App Drops Users in the Heart of Historic Armenia

Painstaking imaging of cultural heritage sites worldwide has the potential to usher in a new era of participatory preservation efforts

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

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

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

Page 2 of 2