The population of Texas consists of people of varied origins spanning the continents of the world, but they are Texans—one and all. The 31st Annual Texas Folklife Festival is presented with over 10,000 participants from 103 cities and 63 counties in Texas. Our participants identify themselves and/or their crafts, foods, music, storytelling, and dances as representing 40 ethnic and cultural groups this year. Information on continents, countries, kingdoms, states, islands, or religions associated with these groups, a brief description, and the names of participants are listed below:

1. Africa: Second-largest continent, after Asia, covering about one fifth of the total land surface of the Earth.

2.  Alsace: Region encompassing the northeastern French Haut-Rhin (“Upper Rhine”) and Bas-Rhin (“Lower Rhine”) and roughly coextensive with the historic region of Alsace.

3. Belgium: Officially Kingdom of Belgium; country of northwestern Europe. One of the smallest and most densely populated European countries, it has been, since its birth in 1830 and 1831, a hereditary, representative, and constitutional monarchy.

4.  Cajun: Descendants of French Canadians whom the British, in the 18th century, drove from the captured French colony of Acadia (now Nova Scotia and adjacent areas) and who settled in the fertile bayou lands of southern Louisiana. The Cajuns today form small, compact, self-contained communities and speak their own patois, a combination of archaic French forms with idioms taken from their English, Spanish, German, American Indian, and black neighbors.

5. Canary Islands: Spanish Islas Canarias, “autonomous community” of Spain, consisting of an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean. The Canaries constitute the Spanish provinces of Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, as well as the insular councils of Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Tenerife, La Palma, Gomera, and Ferro (Hierro). The autonomous community was established by the statute of autonomy of Aug. 16, 1982.

6. Celt: A member of an early Indo-European people who from the 2nd millennium B.C. to the 1st century B.C. spread over much of Europe. Their tribes and groups eventually ranged from the British Isles and northern Spain to as far east as Transylvania, the Black Sea coasts, and Galatia in Anatolia and were in part absorbed into the Roman Empire as Britons, Gauls, Boii, Galatians, and Celtiberians. Linguistically they survive in the modern Celtic speakers of Ireland, Highland Scotland, the Isle of Man, Wales, and Brittany.

7.   Chile: Officially Republic of Chile; country situated along the western seaboard of South America.

8.  China: Officially People’s Republic of China. It is the largest of all Asian countries and has the largest population of any country in the world.

9.  Czech: Officially Czech Republic; landlocked country in central Europe. The modern Czech nation was inaugurated on Jan. 1, 1993, when the union with Slovakia, dating from 1918, was dissolved.

10.  Denmark: Officially Kingdom of Denmark; country occupying the peninsula of Jutland; an archipelago of more than 400 islands to the east of the penisula.

11.  Germany: Country in north-central Europe traversing the continent’s main physical divisions, from the outer ranges of the Alps, northward across the varied country of the Central German Uplands, and then across the North German Plain, or Lowlands.

12. Greece: Officially Hellenic Republic; the southernmost of the countries of the Balkan Peninsula. It is a land of mountains and of sea. The area of Greece is approximately the same as that of England or the U.S. State of Alabama.

13.  Hawaii: State of the United States of America, occupying a group of volcanic islands in the central Pacific Ocean. The original Hawaiians were of Polynesian origin and came from the Marquesas Islands.

14. India: Officially Republic of India; country that occupies the greater part of South Asia. It is a constitutional republic consisting of 25 states, each with a substantial degree of control over its own affairs, and seven less fully empowered union territories. With more than one-sixth of the world’s total population, India is the second most populous country, after China.

15. Ireland: Country of western Europe; occupies the greater part of an island lying to the west of Great Britain, from which it is separated by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St. George’s Channel.

16. Israel:  Officially State of Israel; country in the Middle East, located at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. 

17. Italy: Officially Italian Republic; country of south-central Europe, occupying a peninsula that juts deep into the Mediterranean Sea. It has a shape that has been likened frequently to a high-heeled boot. Montague Italian Bocce Club, Craft Demonstrator; Christopher Columbus Italian Society, Italian Food; Icolori Italiani of the Italian club of Dallas, Folkdancers.

18. Japanese: Island country lying off the East Coast of Asia; includes four main islands—Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu—and numerous smaller ones.

19. Jew: Any person whose religion is Judaism. Judaism is a religion and also a way of life pervasive enough to create an identity as powerful as any other national, cultural, or ethnic group in the state.

20. Laos: Officially Lao People’s Democratic Republic; landlocked country situated in the center of the Indochinese peninsula of Southeast Asia.

21. Lebanon: Officially Republic of Lebanon; country located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Lebanon is one of the world’s smaller sovereign states.

22.  Lithuania: Officially Republic of Lithuania; country of northeastern Europe. In 1990 Lithuania declared its independence from the Soviet Union, and it attained full independence in 1991.

23.  Malaysia:  Country of Southeast Asia, composed of two noncontiguous regions: Peninsular, or West, Malaysia and East Malaysia.

24.  Mexico: Officially United Mexican States; country of North America.

25. Native American: Also called American Indian or Indian; member of any of the aboriginal peoples of the Western Hemisphere, with the exception of the Eskimo, or Inuit, and Aleuts. Lipan Apache Band of Texas, Inc., food and entertainment.

26. The Netherlands: Officially Kingdom of the Netherlands, byname Holland; country located in northwestern Europe.

27. Nigeria: Officially Federal Republic of Nigeria; country situated on the southern coast of western Africa. Nigeria is the most populous African nation.

28. Norway: Officially Kingdom of Norway; country of northern Europe that occupies the western half of the Scandinavian Peninsula.

29. Panama: Officially Republic of Panama, country of Central America occupying the southernmost extension of the isthmus connecting with the northwestern corner of South America.

30.The Philippines: Officially Republic of the Philippines; country in Southeast Asia. It is an archipelago consisting of some 7,100 islands and islets. The Philippines takes its name from Philip II, who was king of Spain during the Spanish colonization of the islands in the 16th century.

31. Poland: Officially Republic of Poland; country lying at the physical center of the European continent. Except for its southern mountainous regions, the country consists almost entirely of lowlands within the North European Plain.

32. Puerto Rico: Officially Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; self-governing island commonwealth of the West Indies, associated with the United States.

33. Scandinavia: Historically Scandia; part of northern Europe, generally held to consist of the two countries of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Norway and Sweden, with the addition of Denmark, sometimes to include Finland and Iceland.

34. Scotland: Component country of the United Kingdom—with England, Wales, and Northern Ireland—and the most northerly of the four.

35. Spain: Officially Kingdom of Spain; country located in the extreme southwest of the European continent.

36. Sweden: Officially Kingdom of Sweden; country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in northern Europe.

37. Turkey: Officially Republic of Turkey. Starting from the northwest, Turkey shares borders with Greece, Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Iraq, and Syria.

38. Ukraine: Country located in Eastern Europe; after Russia, the second largest on the continent.

39. United States: Officially United States of America, abbreviations U.S., or U.S.A., byname America; country of North America, a federal republic of 50 states; fourth-largest country in the world in area (after Russia, Canada, and China).

40. Wend: Any member of a group of Slavic tribes that had settled in the area between the Oder River (on the east) and the Elbe and Saale rivers (on the west) by the 5th century A.D., in what is now eastern Germany.