Obon Weekend

The Obon holidays were this last weekend, and, as usual, I had a fantastic time (if you don't know what the heck I'm talking about, you can read my blogs about it here).

I am fairly certain these are the BEST days out of the whole Okinawa year, and while many people take advantage of the three-day-weekend to travel, there's nowhere else I'd rather be.

This is what Obon looked like for me this year:

Friday: Asato Matsuri
The festivities started on friday so I donned my new yukata (summer kimono), and walked up the road the the next neighborhood to enjoy their festival.

Javier came, too! 

Eisa dancing. Isn't he cuuute??

Here you can see my yukata. 

They even had a tiny fireworks show at the end. :D

Saturday: Hanashiro Matsuri 
For me, Saturday is the main event. I love, love, love my neighborhood's festival. It's one of my first and best memories of Okinawa, and the local grandmas always feel like a part of the community. It's just so much fun!

Posing with my self-proclaimed "Okinawan Parents," 

and the little neighbor girl. :) 

Dancing with my grannies. :)

Javier danced, too!! 

I tried to get a good picture of my Obi (the yellow bow/belt) because I tied it by myself for the first time.
This was QUITE the accomplishment. :) 

One last dance to end the night. 

Sunday: Family Dinner
For the locals, however, Sunday is the most important day of Obon. On this day, Okinawan people gather together at their family homes to share a dinner together and bid their ancestors (whose ghosts have been visiting for the weekend) farewell. I did get to experience this dinner my first year with a teacher's family, but didn't have the opportunity this year.

Monday: Shishimai 
After the ancestors have returned to their homes in the sea, some communities have one last Obon event: the Shishimai. I wrote about it more in-depth last year, and you can read that blog here.

Shishimai means "lion dance," and while the lion (or shisa) certainly does dance, I think of it as more of a parade, because it also marches all around the neighborhood as people follow behind. The main purpose of this tradition is to usher out any negative spirits that may have remained after the ancestors' departure.

One thing I love is the way the shisa is able to express so much character and emotion because of how the people inside move around and open or close the mouth.

   

If you look in the shisa's mouth, you can see that the man inside is having a pretty good time, too
(probably because I nearly fell over when he came charging at me). 

Of course, I love how the shisa chows down on little kids and babies to bring them good luck...

but I also love how the shisa seems to respect the elderly members of the community and dances with all the grandmas.

On that note, I love how the grandmas here really love dancing. At the end of the parade, they have yet another dance party, and they once again force me to join in. :) Not that I'm complaining.

They even form a rockin'-grandma dance circle! 

And get the little guys to dance along, too. 

My favorite interaction of the day was between this toddler and the shisa. He seemed pretty fearless standing up to the big lion, until the lion came at him with his mouth wide open:

Then he was like, "Time to GTFO!"
Also, please note the anpanman on his hiney. Ha!
(If the embedding doesn't work, you can see it here)


As you can see, I had a really amazing weekend. I hope this isn't my last year in Japan, because I'd love to do it all over again next year.

Hanashiro Shisa Parade 2010

  Today is a typhoon day. I have mixed feelings about that fact. On the one hand, they cancelled the second day of our English camp which I put so much work into. On the other hand, I got the whole day off. :) I've been waiting since 9 a.m. for a good storm to entertain me, but the wind has barely even rattled the doors all day. Ah well. I probably shouldn't be wishing for trouble anyways. ;)

Well, since I have a lot of extra time today, I want to tell you about one of my highlights of each year in Okinawa. 

Each year during the Obon holiday, my little neighborhood, Hanashiro, holds many festivals to welcome the spirits of their ancestors home for a few days and then see them off again when the holiday is over. 

My favorite event of the week takes place the day after the ghosts have returned to the sea: The Shisa Parade. 

During the parade, this blood-thirsty beast (part lion, part dog) marches menacingly through the streets. He is hungry for one thing, and only one thing: the heads of small children. 

Parents, usually so protecting of their young children, don't hide them from this blood-thirsty monster. 

Instead, they carry them out into plain sight. 

They gather the little ones together and offer their offspring to the lion... like tiny little sacrifices. 

And when the Shisa selects his prey,

he attacks,

and devours the baby in one gulp. 

.....

...

.....

Okay, okay don't worry. 

The Shisa only nibbles on their head a little. 

The children are left alive and only minimally scared.

This process makes the parents happy, because being munched on a little is good luck for a long, healthy life. 

The parade continues all throughout Hanashiro, with music and dancing, baby chewing and crying, and general merry-making. 

We pause only for prayer,

to rest, 

and to fight.

Finally, we wind our way back to the town center to celebrate a successful Shisa parade 

with music and dancing

for everyone. :) 

Cherry Blossom Festival : Part One

Rice is cooking, cocoa is steaming (complete with marshmallows and candy cane, of course), the laundry is spinning, and the wind is beating at my door. The mood is set for a peaceful Monday evening: the perfect atmosphere for blogging. Ahhh.

As promised, here is the blog of cherry blossoms (sakura, in Japanese): my experience with the time-honored Japanese tradition of hanami, or sakura viewing.

Spring has arrived in Okinawa!

Traditionally, --mmm... rice is done, just a moment...

*ahem*

Traditionally, small parties would gather beneath the trees to feast, drink, and soak up the beauty of the transient little flowers. These parties have developed into large festivals where hundreds of people gather to drink, enjoy live music and entertainment, and eat wonderful festival food. I am obsessed with festival food.

yummmmm

Speaking of festival food, take a gander at this beaut! Chocolate-covered sprinkled banana (which would have been even better frozen). Yummy! I picked up this delectable snack at the first festival of the weekend.

The Yaese Town Festival!

This is definitely not the biggest festival on the island, but it is the most local. :) The drive up to the festival site was only about five minutes from my apartment, but parking took another ten or so, and then we had to shuttle from the parking lot.

I want to name my future daughter "Sakura" :P

I attended the festival with my beautiful friends and fellow JETs, A and K. It was K's birthday, too, so we had even more cause to celebrate. Our first stop of the afternoon was, of course, the concession stands. Have I mentioned that I love festival food? I immediately ordered some yakitori (grilled chicken on a stick), but devoured it too quickly to take a photo.

Instead, I took a picture of A eating her food. :)

Next, K and I faced off in a little shooting game. We didn't keep track of who hit the cans the most, but we definitely got quite a few good shots in, despite K's claims that she didn't know how to hold a gun!

She is a natural gunswoman. ;)

I just look awkward.

And dangerous.

Dangerously awkward.

We walked away with some pretty exciting prizes: two pink panther inflatable toy/weapons!

They came attached to long rubber bands which we held on to while ruthlessly beating each other. Everywhere we went, children giggled and adults groaned. We totally act our ages!

Speaking of children, four little girls approached us while we were photographing some blossoms and practiced their English with us. :) They were surprisingly good for such young girls. Later, they approached us again as we were playing more games and winning more toys, and they were so cute and big-eyed that we gave each of them an inflatable toy.

Then, I attacked them!

I chased them around with one of the toys and they had to use their toys as self-defense.

It was a blast. :)

Don't they look terrified?

My best photos of the day were taken after I spotted a gorgeous butterfly on the blossoms.

This is one of about thirty photos I took of that little guy. :P

The three of us all snapped away at about 10 photos a second. So lucky to catch such a beautiful sight.

We only stayed an hour or so, but fit in a lot of adventure and laughs. We had a few moments of beautiful blue sky, and the temperature was comfortable. Pretty great conditions for the first hanami festival of the weekend!

Oi, I was going to blog both festivals in this post, but this has already taken me two days! (On and off).

Stay tuned for the Nago festival, if you are still interested by then. :)