Living Traditions Festival

I went to the Living Traditions Festival in downtown Salt Lake this previous Sunday. There were plenty of things going on to stimulate you visually, like the lacework. When I watched the woman working it seemed like she chose random strings of lace to twist around pins and other pieces of lace, but she knew what she was doing. This sort of thing became less profitable after the industrial revolutions, but maybe that's for the best. Although things weren't being created by artisans, at least more people could afford them. 

I thought these flowers were so vibrant. They are made from paper and come from Mexico. I've never thought about how ruffling paper in just the right way could make it look so realistic. I like to fold origami, but with that medium the emphasis is more on minimalism than realism. They had some folded cranes for sale in the little market, but seeing as I could have folded some for free I declined to buy any. 

The next booth we checked out was filled with crafts from Peru. Most of the objects here looked to be made of clay but they were much lighter than they should have been. There were tiny boxes that opened to show various biblical scenes. I think the forms were created out of flour and water, but I'm not sure how the miniscule figures were made. No doubt this guy had a steady hand in order to paint the little people inside this box.  

I liked these eggs-quisite creations (I couldn't resist). I don't know exactly where this art comes from because I think the sign only mentioned that it was from Europe. So, white people did it. I think it would have really showed that white people made these if they used the egg white and yolk to make an egg salad sandwich. I love those things. We tried to talk to the woman at this booth but some guy was hogging her time. He kept mentioning a "missionary" special, whatever that means. 

And, here are some carved fruits from the Thai booth. These almost looked like wax and the scent they gave off was delicious. I am in full support of art you can eat, so I enjoyed this booth. They must have done something to the watermelon because I think it would have gotten all goopy if they had just carved without any sort of hardening agent. 

Along with the booths, there were plenty of booths with food from around the world, as well as dancing. Those capoeira dancers were pretty hot. I was kind of confused though because I thought it was a fighting style but they just seemed to be dancing with each other. They could probably kick someone's ass if they wanted to. It was nice to see people learning about other cultures, especially non-white cultures. Exploration is wonderful.