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  • 2024 Festival, Indigenous Voices of the Americas,

    Day Two: Top Ten Photos

    June 27, 2024 | Elisa Hough, Molly Szymanski | Comments

    After a stormy night, our guests and participants gathered once again on the National Mall. Day Two brought a diverse crowd to the Festival, including groups of summer campers weaving our community basket at the Family Activities tent, chefs crafting delicious recipes like peixe na patioba, a Brazilian grilled yellowfish snapper, and people from all backgrounds coming together to celebrate living traditions.

    “Culture is the immune system of a people,” said Thunder Williams (Afro-Carib), who spoke on a panel about Afro-Indigeneity.

    Saw something you loved at the Festival? Don’t forget to share it on social media with the hashtag #2024Folklife.

    Six people, adults and children, running in the grass and wielding lacrosse sticks. One person is about to catch a small red ball in mid-air.
    Haudenosaunee athletes led visitors of all ages in a lacrosse scrimmage on America’s Front Lawn—the National Mall.
    Photo by Karen Kasmauski, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A woman in a blue dress and beaded jewelry looks over her shoulder while touching a plastic overlay with a black design stretched over a loom.
    Lily Hope (Tlingit), from Juneau, Alaska, showed visitors her Chilkat weaving in progress.
    Photo by Josh Weilepp, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    Through the warp of a loom, a man in a white Levi’s shirt smiles and he weaves a geometric pattern in purple, red, white, and gold.
    Weaver Kevin Aspaas (Diné) has returned to the Festival for the second year in a row, showcasing connections between art and spirituality.
    Photo by Daniel Martinez Gonzalez, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    Four women in matching black dresses with blue and gold embroidery, turquoise and silver jewelry, white face paint, and props with woven tassels and colorful ribbons kneel on stage with solemn looks on their faces.
    The DinéTah Navajo Dancers took to the Four Directions Stage, presenting traditional dances that are linked with seasonal and ceremonial life. The name DinéTah, meaning “among the people,” is the name for the Navajo homeland in the Four Corners region.
    Photo by Bill Douthitt, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A man with gray hair and a black shirt shouting and holding a drum and drumstick above his head.
    Storyteller Gene Tagaban/Guuy Yaau performed at the museum’s amphitheater. He tells stories from the Takdeintaan or Raven, Freshwater Sockeye clan from Hoonah, Alaska.
    Photo by Carys Owen, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A woman wearing a red top and colorful headdress prepares a whole fish in an outdoor demonstration kitchen.
    Antonia Gonsalves da Silva (Pataxó) prepared peixe na patioba, a grilled yellowtail snapper traditionally wrapped in patioba palm leaves—banana leaves here, due to customs restrictions—at the Foodways demonstration stage.
    Photo by Sonya Pencheva, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A woman with long braids wearing a white cardigan and a man wearing a tan shirt sit on a stage, eyes closed in prayer.
    To begin the “Afro-Indigenous Heritage, Belonging, and Resistance” session, artist-activist Penny Gamble Williams (Chappaquiddick Wampanoag; left), alongside Thunder Williams (Afro-Carib), led a prayer to center the speakers and the audience in this moment, on this sacred land.
    Photo by Sonya Pencheva, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A child’s hands playing the marimba.
    In addition to watching the work of Guate-Maya DC at the Barriletes | Kites tent, you can play the marimba, an instrument that is central in traditional Maya culture.
    Photo by Daniel Martinez Gonzalez, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A man wearing a feather headdress guides a young boy in holding a bow and arrow.
    A perk of having a mother on staff at the Folklife Festival: you get to join the Amondawa archers in target practice.
    Photo by Phillip R. Lee, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A person with pink hair and purple tank top holds a cup of red paint in one hand and two paintbrushes in the other. Behind them is a mural in progress, in a bright rainbow pattern.
    Through Friday, visitors can help artist Reyna Hernandez (not pictured) create her mural at the Family Activities tent.
    Photo by Stanley Turk, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives

    On Friday, June 28, attend a powwow dance with the Native Pride Dancers, see Pasatono Orquesta play Mexican Mixtec music, and catch our collaborative concert with the Kennedy Center, featuring Nadia Larcher.

    Molly Szymanski is a media intern with the 2024 Folklife Festival. They are from Baltimore and currently live in College Park, Maryland. Elisa Hough is the editor and web content manager for the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.

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