Description: The World Folklore Museum has eight buildings with different countries represented in each one. It’s a Korean mini-Epcot Center. In each hall, you can see examples of the country’s traditional clothing, food, and housing. Unfortunately, the food was sometimes inaccurate.
In Exhibition Hall 1 are Afghanistan, Turkey, and Pakistan. I was amazed at how the Afghani house called a yurt looks very similar to the roundhouses of Native American tribes.
In Exhibition Hall 2 were Mongolia and China. The Mongolian house called the gher also resembled the roundhouse. There were little models of native towns of each country.
In Exhibition Hall 3 was Japan. There were native costumes of warriors and women, tools, and Japanese food.
In Exhibition Hall 4 were Malaysia and Indonesia. I enjoyed the percussion instruments at the end of the hall. A child was playing on the drums, so I went ahead and played the drums, too.
In Exhibition Hall 5 were Papua New Guinea and Australia. The most unusual item was the penile sheath. Instead of wearing a loincloth to cover their genitals, the traditional Papua New Guinean wear is a sheath to cover their penises. I liked the Australian exhibit, but I thought it would have been better if the native people of Australia were named as Koori—their own word for themselves—rather than Aborigines as the British immigrants named them. It was also here that I noticed that the native food of the Koori was incorrect. After this, I examined the native foods more thoroughly.
In Exhibition Hall 6 were the native tribes of the United States of America and Mexico. I wish they had highlighted the diversity of the tribes. Native American tribes are extremely different from one another. An Inuit (formerly known as the derogatory word "Eskimo") is nothing like a Tongva (usually known as a Gabrieliño Indian). I was extremely pleased to see that they had featured the Huichol tribe from Mexico. My sister and I had visited Puerto Vallarta. We visited a Huichol art gallery. Unfortunately, some of the Huichol art wasn’t really Huichol, although some of it was.
In Exhibition Hall 7 were Peru and Brazil. I was thinking of all the immigrants in Peru—European and Asian—who did not look like native Peruvians. The Brazilian native tribes I have seen in various movies, so I wondered if they were accurately represented, since the Australian, Native American, and Mexican food looked a bit off.
In Exhibition Hall 8 were the tribes of Africa. Although it was titled as North and South Africa, I noticed food and tribal instruments from East Africa, particularly Ethiopia. In this exhibit, the food was accurately represented. I have had quite a bit of Ethiopian food, so I recognized the dishes.
My sister and my cousin rushed us through the museum. In our haste, we missed the special exhibition hall in the World Folklore Garden. Instead, we ended up at the gift shop. We glanced through the souvenirs quickly, then left.
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