The 19th annual American Indian and World Cultures Festival will
celebrate Native American culture and promote peace through the
arts this weekend with talented artists, dancers, crafters and
storytellers.
The 19th annual American Indian and World Cultures Festival will celebrate Native American culture and promote peace through the arts this weekend with talented artists, dancers, crafters and storytellers.
The event will be held Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m.-7 p.m. in the San Juan School lot on The Alameda in San Juan Bautista.
Event organizer Bluebird Elayna Reyna said Indian storytellers are the “cultural keepers” who tell stories handed down orally through the tribe or band.
“They tell a lot of tricksters’ stories that teach people right from wrong,” Reyna said. “Sort of like Wile E. Coyote, who’s always trying to out do Road Runner.”
The event, sponsored by One Earth One People Peace Vision and the San Juan American Indian Council, will feature the Xipe Totec Aztec Dancers, who will perform the Eagle and World Friendship Dance in honor of Cinco de Mayo. Also on hand will be drummers and chanters from the San Juan Indian Council, as well as multicultural award-winning artists, dancers, fashions and food and a juried fine art show and sale.
Parents and their children are invited to take part in the Bluebird Children’s Dance.
“It’s a dance honoring parents and children,” Reyna said. “Everybody gets in a circle and dances to ‘Wind Beneath my Wings.'”
Reyna said the festival is a local public benefit for people to engage in a number of multicultural activities with some of the proceeds going to a fund for special Indian projects locally and on reservations.
For more information or booth space, call or fax Reyna’s Gallery at 623-2379 or go to www.oneearthonepeople.org.
