Getting ready for Town Day!

Town Day in Arlington, MA is a splendid aggregation of merchants, community organizations, food vendors, and musicians. The center of town is closed off and more than 200 booths line that section of Massachusetts Avenue. This year, Town Day is on Saturday, September 17, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. It's been a while since we've had a booth there, and we're eager to go back and see old friends and be part of the local business community in Arlington.

We'll have lots of charming things for sale: the ever-popular Kenyan soapstone hearts and critters, all sorts of earrings, wallets, handbags, and scarves; dream catchers and worry dolls; little Egyptian and Indian boxes and Guatemalan baskets. And more; be sure to look in the $5 bins! We will have amazing buys on items we're closing out. If you're paying cash, we'll pay the sales tax.

We hope to be near our old storefront location at 669 Mass. Ave, but one never knows where one's booth will be until the morning of set-up. Nevertheless, you'll be sure to find us as you walk up and down the Avenue, debating whether to have fried dough or a slice of pie, a sausage or a plate of Thai food, and what community e-mail lists to sign up for. It's always satisfying to contemplate what you've brought home after Town Day. Your bag should include something special from Crossroads Trade.

-- Lisa Deeley Smith

Wedding planning the fair-trade way

We've posted a separate blog entry with ideas for fair-trade gifts for wedding guests to bring. Wedding planners (whether professional, or members of the wedding party) can continue the theme of a fair-trade wedding by providing gifts and accessories for the bride's attendants that reflect the couple's commitment to cooperation and justice.

Bridesmaids can adorn themselves with tagua-nut bracelets as part of the wedding's color scheme, at the reception, or later as a memory of the big event.  We carry a variety of colors and styles on our World of Good website. Tagua is made from the nut of a Colombian palm tree that is dried and dyed. Farmers who sell tagua now earn enough to stop growing coca leaf for the cocaine trade. Brides should know their gifts to the wedding party not only commemorate their day, but bring economic freedom to Colombian families.

Our Nepali beaded bracelet also comes in a variety of palettes, should the bride wish to coordinate accessories with her attendants' gowns. Brought to market by a fair-trade wholesaler who is a former Peace Corps member, these bracelets are fashioned by women who are earning money to send their daughters to school.
Our World of Good earring selection features price points ranging from under $20 (Kenyan recycled metals)  to over $40 (intricate Guatemalan beadwork). Our web site features an even greater selection.

At the reception, your guests find their table strewn with a variety of our Kenyan hearts. These hearts are carved out of soapstone from the Kissi district of western Kenya. Dyed and batiked in Nairobi, they are a cheerful and affordable table favor.

The bride's attendants will look extra-spectacular. The guests will be charmed by their favors. The wedding will be part of the fair-trade movement. And the day will be even more meaningful than before.

Setting up the Nativities

Gentle Mary laid her child lowly in a manger ...

So the Christmas carol goes. Ever since the days of St. Francis, nativities -- creches, naciamentos, pesebres -- have been a hands-on tool for teaching the Christmas story. Our selection of nativities is a delight to the collector, and culturally fascinating as different countries express the story in different media and with different iconographies.

Our Krygystan nativity is made from 100 percent wool, and the yurt is also the storage container for Mary, Jesus, and Joseph. The sheep here is a horned ram, and the characters are dressed in the clothes of Krygystan.

Our painted wooden nativity from El Salvador has magi of extremely interesting iconography. It's common for Latin American nacimentos to have three kings ("los reyes") representing different ethnic groups, a tradition that started when Europeans began exploring the globe. But these wise men represent different classes of people: an earthly king, a monk, and a worker. Whether the wise men are coming from different countries or from different social positions, the use of them to teach the message of the world-wide reach of the Christmas story is both charming and profound.

These two nativities are some of many that we carry that are suitable for children -- fun to play and learn with and unbreakable. Collectors appreciate them, too, but they may also have their eyes on something like our $520 Santa Clara Pueblo nativity, made by ceramic artists Andy and Marcia Padilla. This northern New Mexico pueblo, registered in the National Register of Historic Places, is famous for its blackware pottery, most especially its vases. Here at Crossroads you will find the a rare, elegant rendering of the Christmas story.

There are many more: Kenyan nativities of banana fiber with wise men bringing gifts of fish and grain and beer, wooden Russian fixed-based nativities (each member has a peg that fits into the base) painted in a subtle and sophisticated style, and jolly round ceramic figures from Colombia. All contribute to the storytelling that is a wondrous part of Christmas.

The Friendly Beasts

We carry so many animals in so many media from so many countries that "critters" is a category in our store database. This time of year, new shipments come every week. Here are the new arrivals.

This porcupine is a wonderful example of the many South African beaded animals we import. (This was part of a shipment that led a customs agent to leave a message, "We have your wire items from South Africa here." As Kate posted previously, getting items from artisan to the market is not always easy.)

From the same South African source we have a great collection of recycled-plastic dogs. These dogs are made with the discarded remains of parade floats.
The porcupine is made by Johannesburg wire artist, and the dog by one of several employment projects around Cape Town. As our supplier notes, "There is so much more to African crafts than African carvings and tribal objects!" Here we have artists using traditional media in new ways, discovering ways to use 21st-century media, and creating new African art forms.

If you go to East Africa without a pair of flip-flops (I learned), your hosts will make sure you have some. For many people, flip-flops are the only footwear they have. People with shoes need flip-flops when they come home and take off those dust-caked shoes. (In Kampala, for example, only the major roads are paved.) Everyone uses them in the bathroom (whether you have full plumbing or a latrine for a toilet and a basin for bathing). With many flip-flops come many flip-flop scraps; Kenyan artisans have turned these scraps into delightful hippos, elephants, and warthogs.

Artisans in the Philippines have transformed the fiber of the Buri palm tree into a delightful series of animals. The palm fibers are shreeded, twisted around a wire frame, and trimmed by hand to make the brush-like texture. Eyes and ears and other details are made from seed pods, carved wood, or rope. We have these critters as stand-alone animals (our possum mother and babies is about nine inches long) and as small ornaments.

These are just four of our critters, but they represent our commitment to recycled materials, to artisans exploring new forms, to employment projects all over the world, and to delight all our animals bring.

-- Lisa