WS Chronicle

(pictured above:  Arts and crafts tables around Bryant Hall were active with participants for three hours.)

More than 200 youth and adults were transported into a wider world on Sunday, Nov. 2 at the second annual Festival of Faith and Culture sponsored by Interfaith Winston-Salem.

Shahd Heikal won the door prize of a bag of treats from Trader Joe’s.

In Bryant Hall on the Salem College campus, Bill Smith created sounds from the rainforest; cooks offered naan from India, kiwi and bean pie from the Nation of Islam and kugel from Judaism; and others introduced Buddhism, Baha’i, Unitarian Universalism, Paganism and other religions.

A couple watches as children participate in a “Day of the Dead” activity at the table sponsored by the Open Arms Latina Girl Scout troop.

The free event is offered each year to introduce a wide range of faith traditions and cultures to children in kindergarten through the fifth grade, according to coordinator Drea Parker.

Sixteen tables arranged in a horseshoe shape were filled with arts and crafts projects that children were able to take home with them. The projects enabled children – and the parents who accompanied them – to learn about other traditions and cultures. Among the projects and activities were Buddhist prayer flags; Muslim henna tattoos; the history, art and culture of African-Americans; pagan year wheels sign language; and the five elements of nature essential to life in Hinduism.

The Dance for Universal Peace, led by Ferzin Irani, brought a diverse group – some in jeans, some in hijabs, some in painted faces – onto the floor for a song and circle dance expressing harmony and community while celebrating the underlying unity of all of the spiritual traditions of the earth.

Daphine Strickland led a group of girls and women in the Native American Ladies Traditional dance, with an emphasis on the snake and canoe dance. The dances were punctuated by a shout at the end of each phase.

For more information about Interfaith Winston-Salem, go to www.if-ws.org.