THE FIELD MUSEUM EXHIBIT

The Field Museum, 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, will exhibit 42 vivid color photographs from Celebrating Women from February 29 through September 9, 2008.

The exhibit features six festivals from the book, Celebrating Women, that honor women in countries that have a large Chicago population. Many of these public spectacles are celebrated by Chicago’s ethnic communities.

These events honor women for reasons as diverse as kind-heartedness; ferocity; courageousness in the face of social injustice; or simply for being young and fancy-free.

• INDIA: Kali Puja celebrates the fierce warrior goddess Kali, who fights evil.
• SWAZILAND: The Reed Dance celebrates girls’ virginity. Twenty-five thousand maidens dance for two days to honor the Queen Mother—and to be honored by their country.
• SWEDEN: Sankta Lucia celebrates women as kind. Little girls wear candles on their heads on December 13, sing the Lucia song and serve their parents breakfast in bed.
• POLAND: Noc Świętojańska celebrates women as magical. Young girls braid garlands of wildflowers and herbs to float on the river at night; traditionally, they believed their wreath would lead them to the man they’d marry.
• BRAZIL: Festival of Boa Morte, celebrates women as political. Descendents of slave women who helped bring about abolition, convene first for Catholic, then Candomblé, ceremonies.
• MOROCCO: Moussem of Imilchil celebrates women as initiators. Once a year, Berber widows and divorcees identify and invite men to marry them.

CELEBRATING WOMEN EXHIBIT HISTORY

The first Celebrating Women exhibit was mounted in 2004 by the International Museum of Women in San Francisco. That exhibit, which was opened by Mary Robinson, former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, was viewed by about forty thousand visitors over a three month period and was the first exhibit ever curated by the International Museum of Women.

CELEBRATING WOMEN EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS

Curriculum materials for classroom use (Grades 2 through 7) were developed by the International Museum of Women and can be downloaded here.

THE OPENING CELEBRATION VIDEOS

Saturday, March 1, 2008
The  Celebrating Women exhibit came to life as members of Chicago’s ethnic communities demonstrated their own rituals, music and dancing. Participating organizations are affiliated with the Field Museum’s Center for Cultural Understanding and Change

Sankta Lucia by The Swedish American Museum Center video by Dan Moran

Boa Morte by The Brazilian Cultural Center of Chicago video by Dan Moran

BUY THE BOOK, CELEBRATING WOMEN

The hardcover book, Celebrating Women, includes 17 festivals in 15 countries and was published by powerHouse Books in 2004. It is available in the Field Museum Store in Chicago as well as from the Museum’s on line store, where it is listed under “Exhibit Related” books