American Rituals
I worked with editors, reporters and photographers on a project for the Style desk that explored rituals and traditions across the United States. I interviewed subjects and wrote short vignettes focused on five different rituals across the country, ranging from woodworking to Cajun Mardi Gras festivities.
Cajun Mardi Gras
The procession starts after dawn at the American Legion Hall in Mamou, a city of about 3,000 in the heart of Cajun country. Revelers parade through the city on horseback, dressed in masks and colorful fringed costumes, begging for ingredients like onions and rice to use in a communal pot of gumbo on Mardi Gras, the day before Ash Wednesday, the official start of lent for Catholics.
Makah woodworking
Practically every piece of wood that Adonia Lee, 46, a woodworker in Sandy Point, Wash., uses in her designs has been salvaged. In her hand, unremarkable scraps of dull driftwood or tree stumps become a bowl or boxes inlaid with turquoise.
Chinatown altars
“That Confucian value of honoring our elders, but also remembering them, paying our respects to them,” Ms. Liu said. “We believe that they are in the next realm, watching over us and protecting us, and taking care of us, and warding evil spirits off of us and bringing us fortune.”
Harvesting a sacred plant
Hawaiians have grown taro, a tropical root vegetable native to Southeast Asia, for thousands of years. The large elephant-ear-shaped leaves are often boiled and served as a green leafy dish, similar to collard greens. The root of the taro plant, which has a sweet and nutty flavor, is also boiled and then typically mashed to make poi, a traditional Polynesian dish.
Mining for ocher
“These ancient stars exploded, and there was iron dust everywhere,” Ms. Tsoutsounakis said. “It is in our bodies, it is in our blood, it is in the landscape. It is in the ochers. It is everywhere.”