Indigenous Terra Madre- Slow Food Events | Slow Food Multimedia

TahNibaa Naataanii is a fifth generation weaver of sheep's fleece from the Navajo-Churro Sheep Presidium in the USA, set up to protect a breed which has been raised by the Indigenous Navajo people in New Mexico and Arizona for four centuries.

"With events like Indigenous Terra Madre and other Slow Food events, we hear stories of the same thing that is happening in our own countries and own lands, and it gives us hope," she said during one of the event's sessions. "All of our ancestors have survived many years and we are resilient people. We come to together like the pieces of a quilt - and together we are strong."

Indigenous Terra Madre- Slow Food Events | Slow Food Multimedia

The Kalinga Chong-Ak Rice food community in the Philippines is a group of more than 720 rice farmers who plant Chong-ak, a traditional native rice variety intimately connected to the Indigenous Taguibong people of Kalinga and their cultural practices.  Tribe leader Lam-en Gonnay was present in Jokkmokk to talk about this group of rice farmers and share their knowledge and experiences 

© Stéphane Lombard
www.crosscultura.se

Prasert Trakansuphakon (left) and Suwichan Phatthanaphriawan are two delegates of theKaren Tribal food community from the hilly terrains of northern Thailand. The approximately 280,000 Karen people live in bamboo houses raised on stilts under which they raise domestic animals such as pigs, buffaloes and chickens alongside cultivation of rice. Most Karen people are animists who believe in supernatural elements. They perform rituals to gods of land and water and believe that spirits live in rocks, tree, and mountains. The Karen live in harmony with nature and they believe that the guardian spirits help them in leading harmonious lives.

The joik is a song-chant and the traditional folk music style of the Sámi people. It is thought to be one of the oldest still-existing music traditions in Europe. A joik can have very minimal or no lyrics, and often reflects a person or a place. Numerous Sami delegates joiked for the crowd during the performance evenings of the event, describing it as being "more of a feeling than a song."

The local Sámi youth choir was created to raise money to support work with young Sámi people contemplating suicide, and was the closing act on the delegates final evening.

Many more poignant images can be found at this site.