One World, Many Voices

Reyna López López, a Zapotec field researcher from Juchitán de Zaragoza in Oaxaca, Mexico, flattens tortilla dough in the Isthmus Zapotec participant area with Festival interns and volunteers.

Laura Ramirez-Rasgado (seated, far left), minister for cultural and education affairs at the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington, D.C., poses with the Isthmus Zapotec researchers and participants from Oaxaca.

Young visitors watch Rosaura López Cartas bake tortillas in the traditional oven constructed outside of the Isthmus Zapotec demonstration tent.

Isthmus Zapotec participants from Oaxaca process through the Smithsonian Folklife Festival down the National Mall.

Visitors observe expert cook and knowledge bearer Velma Orozco Trujillo prepare masa.

Isthmus Zapotec musicians Gerardo Valdivieso Parada, Martín Fabian Peña Santos, and Vicente Guerra López hold a spontaneous musical performance.

Natalia López de Paz, an Isthmus Zapotec writer and language activist from Oaxaca, advances across the mall in a traditional Zapotec procession.

Isthmus Zapotec field researcher Reyna López López walks down the National Mall in a Zapotec procession.

Isthmus Zapotec participants Reyna López López and Rosaura López Cartas check on the tortillas baking in the traditional oven which was constructed in the Zapotec participant area.

Isthmus Zapotec participants from Juchitán de Zaragoza in Oaxaca take part in a traditional procession on June 26, the first day of the Festival.

Isthmus Zapotec participants dance outside their demonstration tent.

Zapotec writer and language activist Natalia López de Paz plays a traditional Wayuu game under the instruction of Wayuu dancer, musician, and games expert Marciano Urrariyú Gouriyu from Colombia.

Víctor Cata, Gabriela Pérez-Báez, and Natalia López de Paz take part in a traditional Zapotec procession.

Isthmus Zapotec field researcher Reyna López López shapes tortillas with Olivia Garral Pérez.

Isthmus Zapotec participants work in the shade of their demonstration tent to create masa, corn flour used for tortillas.

Martín Fabian Peña Santos, an Isthmus Zapotec musician, plays a drum in the participant area.

Isthmus Zapotec musician Vicente Guerra López plays a flute outside the Zapotec demonstration tent.

Isthmus Zapotec musician Gerardo Valdivieso Parada plays a snare drum in the Zapotec demonstration tent.