Who We Are, Where We're From

Young performers with the Filipino-Americans in San Antonio Dance Troupe fascinate the crowds with their dexterity as they do a traditional dance called the tinikling.

The WORLD IN FOUR DAYS or less. It sounds ludicrous, doesn’t it? Well, think again. For four days every June, downtown San Antonio comes alive with the faces, flavors, and sounds of people whose roots can be traced from Vancouver to Vladivostok.

Whether their forebears came from China or India, Norway or Ireland, Colombia or Turkey, these Texans gather once a year to share their diverse cultures with anyone who cares to listen and taste and relish the experience. The Texas Folklife Festival, which celebrates its 35th birthday this year, was created to show the countless cultures of Texas to the world. The festival offers an open invitation for you to have fun while you learn about our broad and varied family tree.

Here on the grounds of UTSA’s Institute of Texan Cultures at HemisFair Park, you can taste a Polish pierogi (a stuffed dumpling), Lebanese shish kebab, Filipino pancit (rice noodles with bits of pork, chicken, shrimp, and vegetables), Scottish haggis, Hungarian gulyas (goulash), Belgian waffles, and Wendish noodles. Wash these down with British ale, Spanish sangria, Mexican aguas frescas, or Laotian jasmine tea.

There’s plenty to see and do during the four-day celebration. More than 40 ethnic groups from every corner of the state come together to share their traditions and make sure that those customs endure. In addition to more than 150 savory ethnic foods cooked and served by some 10,000 volunteers, thousands of performers dance and play music on nine stages. Folks demonstrate everything from limestone-carving and snake-skinning to Dutch-oven cooking and making fruit preserves. Out at the “Back 40,” men and women demonstrate some of the skills of early Texans—roping, ironwork, horseshoeing, sheep-shearing, whittling, cow-milking, and campfire-cooking. And children can enjoy carnival rides, listen to story-tellers, watch vibrant dancers, engage in hands-on activities like grinding corn and painting, and even spit watermelon seeds.

Vendors sell all manner of their creations—jams and vinegars, stained glass and metal art, silver jewelry, leather accessories, Indian tunics, woven straw hats, and olive oil soaps.

You can watch exhibitions of Spanish flamenco, Lebanese belly-dancing, and the Bavarian polka. You may also see some more-exotic dance forms—Chinese lion dancing, Indian raas, Filipino tinikling, Venezuelan joropo, and Italian tarantella. During one vigorous routine, the Fire-on-the-Mountain Cloggers dance alongside Ukrainian, German, Norwegian, and Dutch performers, all clad in their national costumes.

But this festival is also for folks who like to do more than just watch or listen. Here you can learn how to make a piñata or fashion a bookmark from horsehair. Or find out how to make soap and weave a basket. If you care to, perhaps you can learn to spin wool and grind corn into meal.

When the temperature rises, make time to slip into the air-conditioned Institute of Texan Cultures building. The ITC combines culture and education with entertainment. With an array of multimedia presentations, exhibits, interactive areas, and special events, the ITC tells the story of Texans in a 50,000-square-foot facility set on 22 acres. The Institute prides itself on portraying all Texans as having made a contribution to this vast state. Authentic relics and artifacts, re-created items that show how people of various ethnicities and backgrounds lived, publications, and films tell the tales of Texans of all backgrounds.

See the full article in the June 2006 issue.

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Who We Are, Where We're From

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