Tamejavi

Tamejavi is not a word you will find in any English diction¬ary-or for that matter, a dictionary in any language-but it is a word full of meaning for many in California's diverse Central Valley where the Tamejavi Festival has become a celebrated cultural and community event. Tamejavi draws from three words: "Ta" from the Hmong taj laj tshav puam, "... me" from the Spanish mer¬cado, and "javi" from the Mixtec nunjavi, all of which translate as "market" or "plaza. The marketplace is a key feature in many societies-a place that brings people together to share stories, food, and culture. The Tamejavi Festival serves the same purpose-drawing together the Central Valley's many diverse communi¬ties and allowing them the opportunity to express and celebrate their cultural traditions. The Tamejavi Festival is a program of the Pan Val¬ley Institute (PVI). Founded in 1998 by the American Friends Service Committee, this Fresno-based educa¬tion center appreciated that immigrants needed their own place where they could both learn from each other and learn about their new society, and acknowl¬edged that these individuals can contribute new and valuable cultural perspectives. "We recognized that immigrants brought with them a cultural and politi¬cal life and we wanted to create a space for them to express that," said Myrna Martinez Nateras, PVI pro-gram director. California's Fresno County has a population of more than 940,000, of which more than 65 percent is an ethnicity other than Caucasian, including Hispanic/ Latino, Asian/Pacific Islander, and African American. The Pan Valley Institute quickly learned that many im¬migrants to the Central Valley were missing an outlet to practice their native traditions and welcomed the opportunity to share them. As a result of this positive feedback, the institute looked for a way to share this cultural wealth with a larger audience, eventually cre¬ating the Tamejavi Festival. Originally planned as a one-time event, the Tamejavi Festival has since been held biennially in parks and cultural ...Read More