When I arrived to Catalonia in 2012, the two things that struck me most were Catalan nationalism and human towers called castells.

February 19, 2017, marked the 75th anniversary of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s signing of Executive Order 9066, which authorized the exclusion of Japanese Americans from the West Coast during World War II.

At Basque festivals, sporting events, and other ceremonial gatherings, it is traditional to invite bertsolariak to the stage to sing a greeting in rhymed verse.

In 1937, Cuban public radio broadcast for the first time the sounds of the batá drums.

Set beside the Sounds of California Stage & Plaza, La Cueva was a space for musicians to show their related crafts: mask making, instrument building, and whip braiding.

Throughout the first week of the 2016 Folklife Festival, the rhythmic clang of bells frequently echoed down the National Mall as the Joaldunak marched along paths, between tents, and, on one occasion, around the Washington Monument.

The Fiesta de San Fermin is one of the biggest festivals in Basque country. The weeklong celebration in Pamplona (also called Iruña, Nafarroa) honors the martyr San Fermin, who was beheaded while preaching in France in 303 AD.

The 2016 Smithsonian Folklife Festival began on June 29 with a ceremony in the Smithsonian’s newly reopened Arts and Industries Building.

Each year we ask, how do we better engage you, the visitor, in the creation, production, and presentation of our programs? Since its inception, the Festival has been a unique dance between participants, curators, and visitors.

Summer in Los Angeles means it’s time to go to as many Japanese American obon gatherings as I can, to join in the dances known as bon odori.