Short poems, anecdotes, mocking or reverent tributes, called calaveras or “skulls,” are given to celebrate public or private figures. In Los Angeles, for the last seven years Tropico de Nopal Gallery has taken the custom into the realm of performance art-fashion show-walking altar display.
Rituals and Traditions
WilderUtopia celebrates world culture with a frame of environmental sustainability. Our inspiration sources from ethnically-based indigenous arts, myth and storytelling, as well as dance and music, played out in the rituals, customs, and traditions of the many peoples of the planet.
Bagobo Agung Ensemble – Philippines 1960s
The Bagobo are an indigenous Proto-Austronesian tribe of Mindanao in southern Philippines. Here is a traditional Bagobo Agung ensemble taken by anthropologist Robert Garfias during the 1960s.
Tipis, Hot Dance and the Nighthawk Singers at the Crow Fair In Montana
On the plains of Montana, down the hill from the Little Bighorn National Monument, is the annual Crow Fair. Thousands of tipis are set up along the Little Bighorn River, said to be the largest gathering in the world. As well, an array of Native American singers and dancers appear over the four-day event in late August.