American Folklife

1989 Festival of American Folklife Smithsonian Institution/National Park Service Thierry^ Benrand, maker ot" a iviize. a ii>>\\ laic 1 icnch bagpipe, in his workshop in La Garnache, a village in the Vendee region of France. (Photo by Winifred Lambrecht) On the front cover: Vallisa Vinhasa Tavares represents the island of Kaua'i in the Merrie Monarch parade in Hilo, Hawai'i. (Photo by Lynn Martin, courtesy State Foundation on Culture and the Arts Folk Arts Program) On the hack cover. Una Griffiths and Cacilda Wright, traditional cooks from Santa Caiz, Jamaica, squeeze juice from grated cassava. (Photo by Heliana Portes de Roux) 1989 Festival of American Folklife June 23-27 June 30-July 4 Smithsonian Institution National Park Service We dedicate this year's program book to the nienioiy ofJoseph Condon (1943-1988). Joe was a special assista>it to the Secretary' and a friend of the Festival for many years. Joe tanght ns a lot ahont leadership, integrity and honesty. As ivejdce both successes and crises, we will painfully miss him. Contents Celebrating Freedom by Robert McC. Adams, Secretary, Smithsonian Institution 4 Our Shared Cultural Resources by James M. Ridenour, Director, National Park Service 6 Why We Do the Festival by Richard Kurin 8 American Indian Problems of Access and Cultural Continuity by Thomas Vennum, Jr. 22 Hawai'i: Cosmopolitan Culture at the Crossroads of the Pacific by Richard Kennedy with Lynn Martin 36 French Traditions: Their History and Continuity in North America by Winnie Lambrecht 50 Creolization in the Caribbean by Heliana Portes de Roux 66 Festival of American Folklife ©1989 by the Smithsonian Institution Editor: Frank Proschan Coordinator: Arlene Liebenau Designer: ]oix\ Wolbier Assistant Designer Becky Lepkowski Special thanks: Linda Breitag, Andras Goldinger, Nicholas Spitzer Typesetter: Harlowe Typography Printer: Ameriprint Typeface: ITC Garamond Paper: Warren Patina Insert: Simpson Sundance Felt — Celebrating Freedom Robert McC. Adams Secretary, Smithsonian Institution The Festival, like all Smithsonian muse- cians and craftspeople from France, Quebec, ums, is free. No tickets or turnstyles to in- New England, Louisiana, Missouri and Nonh gather patrons and exclude the rest. The Dakota. Festival has always been free—Liy the The history of freedom in the L'nited original vision of the e\'ent's founders States has involved a continuing tension because the Festi\'al is the Smithsonian's between the rights and responsibilities of forum of living cultural ideas. The Festival indi\'iduals and corporate groups and a is a celebration of traditional beaut\', kn(n\T continuing struggle between colonizers and edge and wisdom. Participation in its colonized, between the settled and the potential for growth, delight and under- ne\\ly arri\ed. This dynamic is e\ident in standing will always be the free privilege of the history of Hawai'i as Polynesian islands, the citizens of the nation and the world. former kingdom and fiftieth state. Hawai'i It seems especially appropriate to recall provides an Fxien-like en\ironment that has the value of open public access to our drawn ancient manners and modern immi- national cultural dialogue this year, as we grants to form a multiethnic, multicultviral celetirate the 200th anni\'ersary of the sc:)ciety. The Hawai'i program includes the French Revolution and the Declaration of descendents of immigrants, mainly from the the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (cur- Pacific rim (but also from the Atlantic), who rently on display in the Smithsonian's Arts came to the islands to work on plantations, and Industries Building). .Marking a period enduring servitude and hardship in hope of of unl^ounded potential, the e\'ents of 1789 a better life. Their story is one of immigra- were a starburst of public energy that, no tion and the search for freedom, offering matter how later aggrandized, had a pro- lessons that Americans need become aware found effect c:)n our young American repub- of as the Pacific captures our national lic and changed fore\'er the light in which attention. we view our public institutions. Indeed, our But Hawai'i is unique in our nation in that own Bill of Rights was signed within thiity its indigenous culture suffuses its society as days of the French Declaration. It is in a whole, giving nuance to the forms of commemoration of our common covenants immigrant cultures that came there. This of human rights and in recognition of our thirtieth anni\ersaiy of Hawaii's statehood common French heritage that we celebrate invites us to reflect upon human cultural the Bicentennial with Francophone musi- freedom—equity for and conservation of beyond the bounds of group, tribe or nation. The Caribbean program illustrates the historical flow of cultural and aesthetic ideas betv.'een diverse Native, European, and African populations in several island socie- ties. Despite extreme social stratification of masters and slaves and attendant racism in the Caribbean, the ideas of the French Revolution had their effect there also, inspir- ing the independence movement in Haiti, traditional cultures. For, we celebrate as which in 1801 became the first free African well the vitality and open spirit of an indige- American republic. While both African and nous Hawaiian culture that has endured European cultural forms persist, Caribbean political, ideological and commercial at- populations are characterized by the creative tempts to restrict its practice and growth. creolization of music, food, language and The continuity of culture depends upon art. Indeed, this encounter of diverse access to various natural, social and cultural peoples defined the New World that devel- resources. We bridle at unfair restrictions of oped in the wake of the Columbian voyages, such access that limit our freedom to realize whose 500th anniversary we prepare to our visions of who we are. The American commemorate in 1992. Today, despite Indian program this year examines such political antagonisms, citizens of our nation restrictions and their impact upon contem- and the world must be free to converse with poran,' tribal life. What happens when tribal one another. Scientists and scholars must rituals depend on endangered species, or talk with each other if knowledge is to be traditional means of subsistence are threat- served. Musicians, artists, writers and others ened by land and water pollution? The must hear, see and read each other if their program also illustrates attempts by various art is to live. We are therefore happy to tribes to gain freedom over their cultural host contingents of musicians from Cuba, future through the innovative management Haiti, Jamaica and Puerto Rico so that of traditional resources. Americans may be free to hear their musics Freedom also involves the flow of ideas, and the complex historical tale they tell of knowledge, of scientific information about the making of the New World. Our Shared Cultural Resources James M. Ridenour Director, National Park Service The National Park Sendee sei'ves the repair, but would not concern ourselves nation as more than just the custodian of with preventing problems or with revitaliz- America's national parks and historic sites. ing cultural or natural resources. Nor is We liave always had a broader mission; to stewardship simply a matter of locking away sei've as steward of the natural, cultural and our national treasures, protecting them in historical resources that are our common pristine condition and prohibiting their use legacy as citizens of America and of the or enjoyment. That too would be far easier world. This mission is one that parallels the than our real responsibilities: to balance Smithsonian Institution's obligation to present needs and future hopes, to preserve maintain its great national collections, our heritage while nurturing its perpetu- holding them in tiiist for the people of the ation, to reach some harmony between the United States. It is thus both natural and often conflicting demands imposed by fitting that we serve together as co-sponsors nature and humanity. of the Festival of American Folklife. As new parks have come into being There are striking parallels between the during the past 15 years. Congress and the responsibilities of museum curator and park administrations of four presidents have superintendent, folklife researcher and explicitly recognized our responsibilities to historical interpreter. For all of us, steward- engage in cultural conservation efforts; ship is not simply a matter of standing established parks are increasingly involved quietly by and hoping that nothing damages in assisting in the conservation of local or destroys our precious national legacy. If cultures and groups. We recognize that that were so our jobs would be much easier histcMT is not only battlefields and old — we would be experts at maintenance and mansions, but also the stories they signal. This year's Folklife Festival offers contin- ued evidence of the shared concerns of the National Park Service and the Smithsonian Institution. The Yaqui deer dance here reminds us of Yaqui participation in the exciting Fiesta held annually for 19 years at Tumacacori National Monument in Arizona. The French American musicians you enjoy here have also performed frequently in national parks such as the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park in Louisiana, Lowell We recognize that historic sites offer a wide National Historical Park in Massachusetts, range of stories to be told: a settler's cabin in and the Jefferson National Expansion Memo- Yellowstone or a textile workers' tenement in rial park in Missouri. The Hawaiian program Lowell is as important a part of America's lets Washington visitors experience some of heritage as a Newport mansion or the child- the traditional culture they might encounter hood home of a president. And we recog- in Hawaii's 'Volcanoes National Park or nize that culture is a process rather than a Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical relic, that it is a complex phenomenon that Park, the City of Refuge National Historical thrives in a particular environment, and that Park.

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