Arts and Media Basics:
Folklife Resources

The annual Homowo Festival in Portland is a Ghanaian harvest festival organized by master drummer Obo Addy.	Celebrations often reflect regional culture and traditions. The Pendleton Round-up and Pow-Wow are long-standing events in this eastern Oregon community.
A Hmong wedding party prepares to meet with the groom's representatives to negotiate the arrangement in a formal ceremony that has been passed down through oral tradition.	Healing practices are another aspect of traditional arts. Eva Castellanoz of Nyssa is a curandera, or traditional healer, a skill she learned from her parents in Mexico.
Traditional foods also give people a sense of home and cultural identify. A vendor at the Junction City Scandinavian Festival prepares Aebleskiver (pronounced AbleSKEEver), a Danish delicacy.	Braided rawhide by rancher Terry Ott of Crane. The pieces are functional cowboy gear made to be used.
Ukrainian pysanky by Hedy Connelly of Grants Pass. Connelly emphasizes that eggs are "written" rather than decorated. Each color and design symbolizes a wish for the person who will receive the egg.	Section of an embroidered dress by Palestinian artist Feryal Abbasi-Ghnaim of Portland. Abbasi-Ghnaim started learning embroidery from her mother and grandmother at age seven. She has taught her three daughters the traditional designs and the stories that go with them.
Beaded Cradleboard by Maynard WhiteOwl Lavadour, a Cayuse-Nez Perce artist from Umatilla Indian Reservation in eastern Oregon. As the oldest grandchild, he was entrusted with continuing traditional knowledge and practices. He learned beadwork, basketry, quill work, and twining.	Angolan basket weaver Valeriana Bandwa learned to weave from her mother as a child. Traditional materials include roots and grasses. She wove this baskets from tree roots she found in Papua New Guinea. She has trouble finding materials to work with in Portland.

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