Enjoy History 2015: Year In Review

At the beginning of the year, we made plans to enjoy history more throughout the year. We shared the challenge and invited people to join us in enjoying history more in 2015. Now that the year is coming to a close, let's look back at a few of the highlights from our enjoy history challenge. 

Visit a Museum or Historic Site

The atrium at the National World War II museum. A must see destination if in New Orleans. #worldwar2 #museum #ncss15 #worldwariimuseum

Read a book

Histocrats
 

Play a history game

Game of the Week--Salem! Players act with the assumption that there are witches among them. Try to rid the village of witches and keep the identities of your own residents secret. #games #gaming #boardgames #cardgame #salem #witch #tabletop

Road Trip
On the Road with the Histocrats
 

Enjoy a reenactment or living history presentation

Awesome 1860s inspired Mash Tun at the Black Creek Historic brewery. Our tour guide was great giving info as to its function and capability. #toronto #blackcreekbrewery #blackcreekpioneervillage #mashtun #brewery #beer

Cook a historic recipe

Histocrats

It has certainly been an interesting year full of history and fun. You can find even more of our adventures on pinterest and instagram. What did you do in 2015?  We would love to hear from you. What are your plans for 2016? Check out the challenge for 2016.

Repurposing Vintage Objects into Something New

By Jeff Burns

They are as much a part of fall as football, pumpkins, and turning leaves: Fall Festivals.  Nearly every weekend, schools, churches, and communities host festivals, and craftspeople and vendors come from all over to sell their handiwork. 

If you are a fan of history like we are, you are probably a fan of old things and of repurposing old things.  Fall festivals are a great place to discover repurposed things, vintage objects transformed into something else for your home or something to wear, or things made to resemble vintage things. Here are a few things we’ve seen in our area festivals this fall.

 

I’ve previously blogged about my wife’s craft, Patchwork Revival. We find vintage fabrics and unfinished quilt tops and squares at estate sales and other places, and she makes them into placemats, potholders, table runners, teddy bears, and bags among other things.  At every festival and show, we run into people who have something started by a grandmother but never finished.  These are fabrics from the 1930s to the 1960s and even earlier.

 

Bottle trees fashioned from rebar. While it’s not necessarily repurposing, it’s an old idea.  Bottle trees or “haint” trees have been around for ages and have an interesting History. The idea is that old bottles are put on tree branches to frighten and trap evil spirits.

 

Another vendor offered angels made out of old hymnals.

Photo and poster reproductions become new home décor.

 

Colorful baskets made in the traditional Gullah/Geechee/Low Country style that was brought from Africa

 

Chimes made from vintage silverware and from old glass bottles

New cloche hats, 1920s flapper style

These are just a few of the great finds in my area. Go out and explore yours, and enjoy a few funnel cakes on the way!

Discovering All Things Japan at JapanFest Atlanta

By Margaret Duncan, Ed.D.

Domo (NHK Mascot)

“Youkoso Nihon E.” Welcome to Japan!

Maneki-neko (Lucky Charm)

Every year JapanFest takes place in the northern suburbs of Atlanta.  This is a great festival that allows visitors to learn about all things Japan, from history to anime to culture to cuisine.  At JapanFest, visitors can really get a close up look at Japanese culture by sampling authentic Japanese food, playing games, viewing martial arts demonstrations, attending traditional performances and workshops.  Attendees can also buy plenty of items from collectables to art to nick-knacks to food to Anime.  As a parent of girls who love Anime (Japanese animation) and all things associated with Japanese culture, attending JapanFest has been an activity we look forward to each and every year.

 Murata Boy Bicycling Robot                                                

At its core, JapanFest is all about improving the understanding and appreciation between the Japanese people and Americans.  As such, the festival is a two day celebration that promotes multicultural education.  Indeed there are a number of stages and workshops that show off various aspects of the Japanese culture.  During the weekend, I had a chance to learn about Sake in Sake 101, learn about making sushi, learn the different aspects of Japanese cuisine from an award winning chef, and sample quite a bit of Japanese food and drinks. 

 

In order to showcase a variety of performing arts, JapanFest has several stages that offer a number of performances and demonstrations.  Attendees can view a Taiko Brum show.  Taiko Brum is a broad range of Japanese percussion instruments played as an ensemble. We also watched a Samurai show—and even learned to be a Samurai at a boot camp.  The various stages also hosted an acrobatic top spinning, jazz guitar and J-Pop performances.  J-Pop is the mixing of traditional Japanese music with foreign pop and rock music.  It can also have heavy Anime ties. We also had the chance to traditional archery, try on traditional dress (kimono) and paint a Hakata (traditional Japanese clay) doll.

                          J-Pop Performer Junko Fujiyama         Jazz Guitarist Hiroya Tsukamoto

 

JapanFest has always had an anime element with vendors and a video room.  Initially, this is why we started attending the festival years ago.  However, this year the festival partnered with MomoCon, the fastest-growing anime convention in the country, to create an Anime Village. Within the village you could shop for all types of anime products, Japanese snacks and drinks.  Visitors could even play a variety of Japanese video games and/or participate in a number of cosplay events.  The Anime video room was expanded and not only offered a lot of anime to watch, but there was also trivia contests with giveaways. 

Re-Discover Japan Street & Celebration

 

The addition of the Anime Village allowed for visitors to be spread out over more area.  No doubt the festival was still congested in areas but it was manageable.  The village also allowed for new vendors in the exhibit hall.  New this year was a Re-Discover Japan Street.  This area allowed for several Japanese cities and traditional arts to be showcased. Overall, there was such a variety at the festival that there was plenty to do for all visitors, no matter the age or interest!

Folk Festival Fun(Another Way to Enjoy History)

By Nina Kendall


Folk festivals are celebrations of traditional cultures and practices from around the world. These events are opportunities for people to revel in the art and history that is folk culture.  As a family, we have visited folk festivals for years.  We recently attend the National Folk Festival in Greensboro, North Carolina. This 75 year old festival will be hosted by the city of Greensboro from 2015 to 2017.  The festival was full of interesting performances and exhibits. Here are a few things we enjoyed:

 

Live Music

The festival in Greensboro had a full schedule of diverse performers. We enjoyed music and performances from traditions around the globe. The Dardanelles performed traditional music from Newfoundland at the Belk Stage. The Dardanelles gave an engaging performance that had people dancing.  On the Church Street stag e Grand Master Seiichi Tanaka and the San Francisco Taiko Dojo entertained with a taiko drumming performance of both traditional and original compositions.  Grand Master Seiichi Tanaka is the foremost expert in taiko drumming in the Unites States. The taiko group’s rhythms and movement reminded the crowd of the art and energy of live performers.  Later on the Wrangler Stage, Babá Ken Okulolo & the West African Highlife Band shared the unique blend of traditional rhythms and with western sounds. The crowd responded to the smooth mellow sounds of the band.

 

Demonstration and Exhibits

Visitors to the festival also had the opportunity to enjoy live demonstrations. At the Greensboro Historical society the way of life of the  Montagnard  was shared via live music, and other demonstrations. The exhibits in the museum were open to the public as well. You could also make time for Chinese rod puppetry or performances by the Warriors of AniKituhwa of Cherokee ceremonial dance. There were also public art, a Pullman train car, and pop-up history exhibits

It was a great weekend of art and culture enjoyed outside in downtown Greensboro.  We will look forward to future events. Attending a folk festival is great way to enjoy history. If you are interested in attending a festival yourself, make plans to go to Greensboro next fall or to attend one of these events.