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.

Each year in the last week of January, up to sixty people march from one village to another, with clanging bells strapped on their backs.

While Basque country is home to many styles of dance, each with variations in dress, there are some basic elements that dance costumes have in common.

Every year I look forward to the Folklife Festival—there’s always a ton to do, and I love learning and experiencing new cultures from around the world. When I found out this year was going to be the Basque country, I immediately marked my calendar.

At the 2015 Festival, Nilda Callañaupa Alvarez represented the textile artisans from Chinchero in Cusco, Peru.

Rufino Turpo shares the life-sustaining role of Pachamama: mother of all living beings, the core of existence, the symbol of fertility.

Lian Xiaoyin is a performer with the Leishan Miao Music and Dance Group and a student of the ancient art of batik dyeing.

The Kenya: Mambo Poa program at the 2014 Smithsonian Folklife Festival invited two bead artists from Kenya: Susana Daniel Chemakwany and Susan Naserian Nketoria.

It used to all depend on individual effort to promote Qiang embroidery, which was very difficult, but after the earthquake the government funded “help centers” for us to help teach women to embroider in order to make a living.