Oregon Historical Society Hosts A Celebration of Oregon’s Immigrant Communities

Family Day: A Celebration of Oregon’s Immigrant Communities will take place from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 15 at the Oregon Historical Society, 1200 SW Park Ave. The event is family-friendly, free and open to the public.

Exhibitions include:

12 p.m.: Vietnamese cultural performances

Vietnamese Christmas carols will sung by the Abba Choir from Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Portland. Experience the beauty, elegance, and spirit of the Vietnamese đàn tranh, an ancient instrument played by the internationally recognized Huong Viet Performing Arts Group. Founded in 2001 by Dr. Hai Viet Hong, the group performed in February 2018 at the White House to celebrate Lunar New Year.

1:15 p.m. Iraqi cultural music and dance

Enjoy traditional Iraqi dances as you listen to singer Farhan Zangana, keyboard player Anas Yousifani, and guitar player Zaven Arshak. Tap your feet as you watch the "Jobiya", a popular line dance that is an essential part of Iraqi celebrations. As an added treat, the Arab Children's Band, founded by the SE Portland Arabic Language School in 2015, will perform a dance and a song by Lana AlQaisi.

3:15 p.m. Borana women’s group cultural music and dance

Learn about the pastoral lifestyle of the Borana people from Northern Kenya through the songs and dances of the Sabbo Gonna Sisters. In the Borana culture, songs focus on praise for livestock, especially cows and goats. Love songs about family and spouses are also popular. The Borana women will be adorned in guntiina (a brightly-colored cloth wrapped around the body and tied in a loop), wrist bangles (meeth), necklaces (qaaliim) and ankle bracelets (koomee). In 2014, Borans in the United States founded Gaadisa Sabbo Gonna (GSG), an organization to support men, women, and youth. The Sabbo Gonna Sisters formed in November 2016 in Seattle as a way for Borana women to support each other in their new homeland.

Activities for all ages (from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.) include:

Tissue paper stained-glass suncatcher
Dragon, cow and goat hand puppets
Sponge-patterned gift bags
Bosnian artifact table by BECO (Bosniaks Educational & Cultural Organization). Throughout the day, members of the Bosniaks Educational & Cultural Organization look forward to teaching the public about their culture through artifacts and photos. Those who visit early may have the pleasure of sampling homemade Bosnian delicacies. BECO, formed in 2003, is a religious, educational, cultural, charitable and social non-profit organization supporting a community of believers and people of goodwill who strive to strengthen, preserve, maintain, and foster the Islamic as well as Bosniak identity.