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Deep Dive
A household in southwestern China might possess sixty or more different basket forms or types.
For us, the tamalada, a tamale making party, goes back several generations to San Luis Potosí, Mexico.
El director emérito de Smithsonian Folkways comparte historias, fotos y videos de su trabajo de campo en Chile, que coincidió con el golpe de estado de Pinochet.
Mamoni Chitrakar started singing. I held my breath. We were watching the unveiling of a traditional painted scroll called patachitra, months in the making.
We sing Christian hymns in a vocal style better fitting a frontier camp meeting in the early 1800s—or a punk show—than a mainline church today.
Smithsonian Folkways director emeritus shares stories, photos, and videos from his field work in Chile, which coincided with Pinochet’s coup d’état.
What common patterns can an ethnomusicologist and an astrophysicist find in their respective work? More than you might think.
In Chinese culture, it is a widespread belief that mental illness results from ancestors’ punishment on the current generation.
“Who the hell is Ralph Rinzler?” I asked. “The director of the Smithsonian’s Festival of American Folklife, you idiot!”
Folklife Magazine explores how culture shapes our lives. We publish stories about music, food, craft, language, celebrations, activism, and the individuals and communities who sustain these traditions.