Dickens Festival

by Keegan O'Connor

Tradition can mean completely different things to different people. Serious or playful, recent or historical, tradition is inextricably tied to culture and history. This week, two festivals present varied cultural traditions. Reminiscent of the Victorian era is the Dickens Festival in Historic Medford Village, while the Tibetan Cultural Arts Festival will bring modern Tibetan traditions to light.

At the Dickens Festival, tradition will be most apparent in the period dress worn by stilt-walkers, horse-drawn carriage drivers and visitors. A celebration of A Christmas Carol's 160th anniversary, this festival will integrate both the time period of the novel with a multitude of Christmas pastimes. To start off, Santa and his posse will arrive, parade-style, just in time for the village's lighting ceremony. Then visitors will be free to navigate their way through all manner of musicians and singers to the gingerbread house competition or the live nativity scene, complete with sheep and ponies, or to the Victorian trolley that tours the back streets of Medford.

So the Dickens Festival is about dramatizing history and tradition. By contrast, the Tibetan Cultural Arts Festival aims to expose people to artistic and cultural traditions unique to Tibet, such as butter sculpture, music-producing "singing bowls" and religious paintings known as thangkas. Like the Dickens fest, you'll find traditionally garbed folks, but rather than singing, they may pour you tea. Tibetan-made rugs, clothing, and jewelry will also be available for purchase, and will benefit the local Tibetan community and improve their culture's visibility.

Dickens Festival, Fri., Dec. 5, 6:30-9:30 p.m., free, Main Street, Medford Village, N.J., 609-714-8811, ext. 5, www.medfordvillage.org.

Tibetan Cultural Arts Festival, Sat., Dec. 6, 10 a.m.-8 p.m., and Sun., Dec. 7, noon-8 p.m., $10 (cash only), First Unitarian Church, 22nd and Chestnut sts., 215-742-3232, www.patibetan.org.

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