History, Culture Part of the Barter at Fair

Lindero Canyon Middle School seventh-graders crossed thousands of miles, many centuries and several continents without leaving campus Friday.

They created a colorful and boisterous open-air marketplace, circa AD 500 to 1500, from which they bartered their handmade goods.

Merchants from the Incan tribes traded beaded jewelry for food from a Chinese chef. Ancient people from many lands flocked to a booth selling flowered hair wreaths from Europe while others swarmed a booth manned by four drum makers from Africa.

Justin Wagman and Adam Eisenberg, two of the youths in the drum booth, chose their professions because they play the instrument.

They said they were surprised to find in their research that the drummers were some of the most respected members of an African tribe, but they still weren’t sure if they would like to have lived during that period.

“It seems like fun because you play drums so much,” said Adam, 12, a drum maker dressed in a colorful wrap with beads in his hair.

“But it’s scary, too, because of malaria and the tsetse fly,” Justin, 13, piped in.

Many said their favorite part of the experience was bartering, which some students conducted at their own booths while their partners worked the fair carrying samples.

School officials said the annual Olde World Faire, the culmination of a month of planning and a semester of learning about ancient cultures, has improved each of its 12 years on campus.

In addition to creating the booths--which ranged from the very simple to the elaborate--and making their trinkets and goods to barter, the students are required to write a report on their chosen culture.

“They can put themselves into how people actually lived back then and get a sense of how it was for them,” said teacher Daria Carpiac, of the event she introduced to the school.