Aditi: A Celebration of Life, a living exhibition in the National Museum of Natural History (June 4 to July 28, 1985), is linked to the Festival of American Folklife both administratively and conceptually. Celebrating the life cycle of traditional India from the perspective of the growing child, the exhibition is organized in 18 sections, beginning with the coming of age, and proceeding through betrothal, marriage, pregnancy, birth, infancy, childhood and maturation to the stage when the child is ready to move out beyond the village to begin yet another cycle. The last section of the exhibition is devoted to festivals and fairs (me las)- events which integrate the child into the larger social and cultural community of which he is part. Mela An Indian Fair at the Festival of American Folklife is, in effect, an enlargement of this section and a living demonstration of its message.