A Journey Through Cultures: When Travel Reveals Stories You Never Expected
Travel has a way of placing us in situations that lead us into moments we never could have seen coming. And just as you think you know what your trip might look like, a view, a decent hike, a peaceful evening with the sun setting in the distance, you realize the road has something else in store for you. This philosophy was proven true in my most recent trip through the American West when a brief stop in the small town of Midvale became one of the most memorable times of my trip.
I was meant to spend only an hour in the city. The plan was straightforward enough: rest, eat, stretch legs, and move along. But as I wandered past a massive structure, the sound of soft music escaped into the open spaces. While it was not loud enough to move me greatly, it was enough to make me ponder, and this, I've come to realize, is something one needs to learn to pursue when exploring the world. I went inside, barely giving it a second thought, when, suddenly, I found myself in the company of colors, activities, and stories in fabric.
The women, from all over the world, stood together clad in traditional attire, each piece of which was more than just beautiful in design. While some of the attire were colorful, adorned with minute stitches that sparkled in the gentle light, others were plain, almost less so, but were tangible in a sense, as if the essence was passed down from the times before. There was nothing dramatic in this setting - no bright lights upon the stage, no blaring speakers.
Only women, sharing themselves in the form of textures, colors, and symbols infused in the attire they wear. Watching this, my mind went back to the readings I had done in the article I once came across, talking about how cultural fashion helps preserve the heritage in these assembly sessions. This brought so much meaning to what I was observing in the Utah setting.
The next day, as I pressed onward in my car through the endless desert, the colors of the land reminded me of the textiles from the day before. The deep oranges, browns, and purples blanketed the horizon at the time of the sunrise, echoing the fabric dyes that held stories of other lands. I was struck by the way that culture isn't bound by the boundaries that enclose it. Culture moves along with the people.
Later in my trip, I also went to the marketplace in a small town where people sold handmade crafts. Every single piece was infused with a piece of another person's story. A handmade bracelet from Central America, a scarf from the Middle East, and a handmade bag that was inspired by African designs. Travel allows you to learn to notice details. Details that show where someone has come from, what's inside them.
One thing that has stayed in my mind the most has been the sense of resilience I witnessed in these cultural outputs. Culture in the form of cloth is not just fabric. It has been a memory, a remembrance of the past, for people when life takes them places far from where they belong. Seeing the women share this in the form of cloth in the meeting in Midvale made me understand the power of cloth in depicting emotions. We travel as individuals chasing mountains, cuisine, buildings, or adventures. And it’s just that, at times, the most fascinating things can be found in people and the stories they carry with them. A handicrafted piece, a particular set of colors, a heritage pattern, every detail provides the slightest peep into another world.
They also tell us that culture exists in the most mundane of things, not in the museum exhibits alone. Every trip has something that will pleasantly surprise you. In this case, it was the power of cultural expression, the way in which tradition can bring people from all over the world together, in the form of traditional clothing. Travel, when you move slowly enough to notice, to enter the moments you encounter, isn't just the act of moving from here to there. Travel can be understanding. And one surprising experience can impart more information regarding a location, people, than any itinerary might.
