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  • Day Seven: Top Ten Photos

    Visitors returned to the National Mall today for the start of week two of the Festival. In the morning, members from the Aaniiih Nakoda College rose a tipi among the Earth Optimism × Folklife tents, accompanied by ceremonial drumming, singing, and a crowd.

    We learned how to make invasive catfish rolls and pitmasters joined forces in the name of UAE BBQ at Festival Foodways. Kids tried their hands at a drawing workshop at the Next Chapter Studio while parents tasted wine with Napa Valley growers in the Marketplace. The warm evening ended with a performance by local son jarocho collective Son Cosita Seria and Smithsonian Folkways favorites Los Texmaniacs, featuring La Marisoul.

    Several people, many in matching red shirts, form a circle around a white tipi outdoors.
    The morning on the Mall started with a tipi-raising ceremony with newcomers for the second week of the Earth Optimism × Folklife program from Aaniiih Nakoda College in Montana.
    Photo by Sonya Pencheva, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A man holds a large, brown bird in a raptor glove for protection. The bird and the man are looking to the left, while the man gesticulates.
    Another new arrival this week: the electric Ford 150 Lightning, which supplies Festival Foodways with greens from its “frunk,” or front trunk.
    Photo by Phillip Lee, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    People sit outdoors, watching a video screen.
    Visitors showed up early for short films from the United Arab Emirates in the Pocket Cinema and Folklife Studio.
    Photo by Phillip Lee, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A man in white shirt and headdress tosses a bunch of brown coffee beans into the air from a tan woven mat.
    Need a pick-me-up? Emirati participants are preparing traditional coffee every hour that visitors can sample.
    Photo by Sonya Pencheva, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A man sits on the ground, hitting a rectangular piece of bark with a wooden mallet.
    Artisans from Uganda arrived this week to demonstrate the process of making bark cloth as a sustainable resource.
    Photo by Josh Weilepp, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    Two women wearing tan sun hats and novelty glasses, one with white flowers as lenses and the other as pineapples, hold up a sign that reads: I will choose and use native plants.
    Visitors declared their commitments to a more sustainable future.
    Photo by Julie Byrne, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A man kneels outdoors, holding a child on one knee, next to a record player.
    Mohamed Al Jneibi has offered daily guided listening sessions of classic and modern Arab music.
    Photo by Phillip Lee, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    Four people sit on stage, laughing.
    Multinational, multilingual poets with Rooftop Rhythms in the United Arab Emirates shared beautiful verses, insights to their creative processes, and many laughs.
    Photo by Phillip Lee, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    Six people seated on an outdoor stage, including an ASL interpreter, plus two people on screen via Zoom.
    MacArthur Fellow Kate Orff and CNN climate correspondent Bill Weir got beamed in for a conversation about the role of oysters in coastal restoration.
    Photo by JB Weilepp, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    Three people performing on stage: a man with a cowboy hat and a 12-string guitar-type instrument, a woman singing in pink polka dot dress, and a man singing and playing an Hohner accordion.
    Bajo sexto player Max Baca, singer La Marisoul, and accordion player Josh Baca as Los Texmaniacs brought the best of Texas to the National Mall.
    Photo by Sonya Pencheva, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives

    Join us Friday for a slew of exciting activities before the weekend! Start your day at Festival Foodways to watch the mothers of UAE participants showcase traditional Emirati dishes. Drop in at Earth Optimism Stories and sing along to conservation songs from Belize. Learn words and phrases from a Northern Plains tribal language and how to make bison meatballs with Native cooking at Festival Foodways. Visit Folklife Studio to join conversations about tech breakthroughs for monitoring animals and ecosystems, food equity and access, and the emerging creative world of the UAE.

    The evening concert features Sunny Jain’s Wild Wild East and REBOLU from the New Colombian Music movement at the Ralph Rinzler Stage at 6:30 p.m. See you on the dance floor!

    Annabella Hoge is the 2022 Folklife Festival media intern, and Elisa Hough is the editor at the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. Together they are Team Top Ten.


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