Each year the Smithsonian Institute organizes a Folklife Festival on the National Mall. It lasts about a week and features 3 different topics/themes/cultures. This year the spotlight was on "One World, Many Voices" (endangered languages), "Hungarian Heritage", and "The Will to Adorn" (African American diversity, style and identity). I was really excited to visit the endangered languages exhibit because 2 languages from Russia were featured: Tuvan and Kalmyk.
I was there for the yurt. Once I saw that they had 2 set up on the map, I made a beeline for them. They were so bright and colorful both inside and out. And it's bigger on the inside (haha a Doctor Who reference!). The Tuvan exhibit really impressed me. They've worked very hard to adapt their endangered language to the modern world by creating a 14,000 word online Tuvan-English dictionary app. A computer station was set up where you could look up words or phrases. I chose the word "horse" and was not surprised to find a lot of words relating to horses. Listening to Tuvan, it is very slow and drawn out, especially on the vowels. Probably makes it easier for guttural throat singing, which they are known for.
Next, I went to the Hungarian section of the festival. Oh boy! They came prepared. They built large and intricate structures and fences. They had a fire pit to make a mutton stew. They were wood carving in their spare time. It was just incredible to look at the craftsmanship in all of the their work. There were fashion shows and traditional dances. And in the food tent, they were selling traditional dishes. I tried the shashlik with lesco (chicken kebab with peppers and tomatoes). It was delicious! Fun fact: shashlik also means kebab in Russian so I recognized one Hungarian word.
For more info about the annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival, check out their website
http://www.festival.si.edu/
