Post by Okwes on Dec 2, 2006 10:46:37 GMT -5
Carlsbad festival focuses on Native American culture
CARLSBAD ---- Jason Hunter had to eat a jalapeno, a serrano and an arbol chili pepper Saturday at the Carlsbad Recreation Department's Fall Festival before he could move on to the hottest item on the pepper-eating contest menu ---- habaneros.
Hunter said he ate his way through four of the fiery peppers before losing to the eventual winner by one pepper.
"I started sweating," Hunter said of how he felt after consuming the peppers. "I had to drink some water afterward."
But Hunter, who attended the festival with his three children ---- ages 3, 8, and 10 ---- said he'll be back next year to try and claim the top prize, despite his temporary discomfort.
Hunter was among hundreds who turned out for the three-hour festival Saturday at the Leo Carrillo Ranch. Besides a hot-pepper eating contest, there was a chili cook off and an area with a slide and air-filled jumpers for children to play. Vendors sold roasted corn, kettle corn, fry bread, jewelry, and arts and crafts.
This year's festival focused on Native American culture, said Melissa Carreon, the festival's coordinator. The city's recreation department started holding the festivals in 2004, Carreon said, as a way to bring the community together. The Native American focus was a way to bring educational and cultural elements to the event, she said.
The Luiseno and San Luis Rey Indians entertained guests with storytelling and drumming performances and workshops on basket weaving.
At the end of a basket-weaving session, Nikki Faddick waited patiently for one of her two sons, Max, 7, to finish a small basket Saturday. She said the boys were having a good time.
"They did about everything they could get their hands on," Faddick said. Max, who was sitting nearby twisting small pieces of cane together, said the basket weaving was his favorite part of the festival.
Diania Caudell, of the Paa'ila Basket Weavers, taught the children basket-weaving skills Saturday. She said she was using a single-walled Cherokee method to make the baskets, because it would enable the children to complete a basket in about 30 minutes.
Caudell said she grew up with a tradition of basket weaving that dates back thousands of years. She started a basket-weaving group to help people heal who were suffering from illnesses.
"It's keeping the tradition going," she said.
Cathleen Chilcote Wallace told stories from the traditions of various California Indian tribes. Some of the stories were intended to explain why the world is the way it is, she said. Others stories teach ethical values.
"We grew up with these stories, that's why we like to tell them," Wallace said.
One of the stories told how dogs came to be friends with humans. In the story, dogs left the world of coyotes when coyotes stopped sharing food with them. Dogs then became friends with humans because they welcomed them and fed them, she said.
Wallace said the meaning of each story varies from person to person, because people hearing the stories interpret them in their own way. Although the stories are old, she said, they still resonate with people.
<http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/11/12//news/coastal/22_47_0011_11_06.txt>
CARLSBAD ---- Jason Hunter had to eat a jalapeno, a serrano and an arbol chili pepper Saturday at the Carlsbad Recreation Department's Fall Festival before he could move on to the hottest item on the pepper-eating contest menu ---- habaneros.
Hunter said he ate his way through four of the fiery peppers before losing to the eventual winner by one pepper.
"I started sweating," Hunter said of how he felt after consuming the peppers. "I had to drink some water afterward."
But Hunter, who attended the festival with his three children ---- ages 3, 8, and 10 ---- said he'll be back next year to try and claim the top prize, despite his temporary discomfort.
Hunter was among hundreds who turned out for the three-hour festival Saturday at the Leo Carrillo Ranch. Besides a hot-pepper eating contest, there was a chili cook off and an area with a slide and air-filled jumpers for children to play. Vendors sold roasted corn, kettle corn, fry bread, jewelry, and arts and crafts.
This year's festival focused on Native American culture, said Melissa Carreon, the festival's coordinator. The city's recreation department started holding the festivals in 2004, Carreon said, as a way to bring the community together. The Native American focus was a way to bring educational and cultural elements to the event, she said.
The Luiseno and San Luis Rey Indians entertained guests with storytelling and drumming performances and workshops on basket weaving.
At the end of a basket-weaving session, Nikki Faddick waited patiently for one of her two sons, Max, 7, to finish a small basket Saturday. She said the boys were having a good time.
"They did about everything they could get their hands on," Faddick said. Max, who was sitting nearby twisting small pieces of cane together, said the basket weaving was his favorite part of the festival.
Diania Caudell, of the Paa'ila Basket Weavers, taught the children basket-weaving skills Saturday. She said she was using a single-walled Cherokee method to make the baskets, because it would enable the children to complete a basket in about 30 minutes.
Caudell said she grew up with a tradition of basket weaving that dates back thousands of years. She started a basket-weaving group to help people heal who were suffering from illnesses.
"It's keeping the tradition going," she said.
Cathleen Chilcote Wallace told stories from the traditions of various California Indian tribes. Some of the stories were intended to explain why the world is the way it is, she said. Others stories teach ethical values.
"We grew up with these stories, that's why we like to tell them," Wallace said.
One of the stories told how dogs came to be friends with humans. In the story, dogs left the world of coyotes when coyotes stopped sharing food with them. Dogs then became friends with humans because they welcomed them and fed them, she said.
Wallace said the meaning of each story varies from person to person, because people hearing the stories interpret them in their own way. Although the stories are old, she said, they still resonate with people.
<http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/11/12//news/coastal/22_47_0011_11_06.txt>