The Festival of American Folklife has no strict operative definition. The best statement of its character is the festival itself. A sign at one of the first festivals suggests what I mean. It read: "Folklife is what the people do."

Each year, the gathering of the Festival-the practical organization behind it and the search for participants begins early. It is based on the deeply held conviction that folklife, with all its concomitant lore and art and skills and other riches passed from one person to another, is found inevitably and invariably in every community of people. One need not sail to an exotic island nor venture into far hills to find this ritual sense of life. It exists at the corner grocery store.

Consider, as examples, some random glimpses of the state of Ohio, glimpses in which any casual passer-by sees not only the fabric of tradition but also the tension and interchange that occurs as one tradition, one kind of ritual, one way of life, touches another.