After getting rained on last year, members of dozens of ethnic cultures set up booths and prepared to perform dances and other performances on the stage at the Skokie Festival of Cultures May 21 and 22.
At a booth devoted to Bulgarian culture, Veselin Andreev played a traditional musical instrument while a group of three women performed a folk dance.
At the Luxembourg booth, the Canfield-McDaniel family examined items on display while the children poked their faces into a wooden cutout that made them appear as if they were dressed as Luxembourgers.
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Across the way, Lobsang Wangdak pointed out Tibetan cultural items such as a six-stringed lute, men’s and women’s embroidered boots, dolls dressed in Tibetan clothing and a statue of a fearsome creature with a sign labeling it “Tibetan National Animal.”
Mehndi
Smita Shah, at a booth devoted to India, was sprinkling silver glitter on an elaborate mehndi decorative design she had created on the back of Yana Wiliams’ hand.
At 1 p.m. Saturday, a parade of all the participants’ cultures kicked off, with representatives from each culture walking from the Oakton Park building through the cultural area and one by one onstage, where an announcer named the culture and many of the participants expressed a welcome in their native language.
After a group of young girls from the Thai Cultural and Fine Arts Institute performed under the direction of Jane Ishibashi, Sumalee Suiseeya of Morton Grove, who attends an East Maine District 63 school, said she devotes every Saturday to practicing with the dance troupe and often also practices the dance moves on her own during free time.
Alexis Somera of Evanston, who attends an Evanston-Skokie District 65 school, said participating in the dance troupe is important because “I want to share my culture with everybody and that multiple dances are part of our culture, rather than just food—although the food is delicious.”