Obon Festival

ok this is late but read it and see if you want to go this year, i went last year and it was fun

Quote :

Japanese Lantern Lighting Festival





The Como Park Zoo & Conservatory will host its Japanese Lantern Lighting Festival on Aug. 20, 2006 from 3:00-9:00 p.m. The family-friendly festival, reminiscent of Japan's annual Obon holiday, will showcase Taiko-"great drum" in Japanese- drumming.

"The spirit and power of taiko drumming are important aspects of Japanese culture," said Bazy Callender, chair of the Lantern Lighting Festival committee. "We are excited to engage people in Japan's traditions with music, demonstrations, art and food-all within the confines of the beautiful and serene Como Ordway Memorial Japanese Garden and the Frog Pond."
Taiko drums come in various sizes and are used to play a range of music. The origin of taiko is unknown, but traces of the drums have been found as far back as the sixth and seventh centuries. At that point, the drums were used in battle to intimidate enemies and communicate commands. Additionally, taiko were used in the religious music of Buddhism and Shintoism and were played by holy men. On the secular side, the drums have long been used as part of festivals like Obon.

Obon itself is an important Japanese cultural and family holiday, at which ancestral spirits are said to revisit their families for three days. Families pay their respects at gravesites and put out offerings of food and drink on a tray before household alters. They also light lanterns or small fires outside the house to symbolically guide the souls to the home. On the last evening of Obon, lanterns again guide the spirits back to their resting places.

The Lantern Lighting Festival will encompass Japanese tradition-through music, dance, crafts, martial arts and lanterns. Families can immerse themselves in traditional Japanese activities like learning about origami, creating Japanese gardens, watching bonsai demonstrations and participating in the traditional bon odori Japanese folk dance, which is performed in Japan as part of the Obon celebration. The Festival will also feature stunning kimono, food, pottery, ikebana (the art of arranging flowers aesthetically), kite flying, martial arts and poetry. The event will culminate at dusk with the lantern lighting. Six stone lanterns and floating paper lanterns throughout the Como Ordway Memorial Japanese Garden pond and the Frog Pond will create a vision of peacefulness and harmony to commemorate the dead.

Japanese cultural organizations, including the Japan America Society of Minnesota and the Saint Paul Nagasaki Sister City Committee, will be on hand to answer questions about Obon and Japanese traditions. Both the Society and the Committee provide invaluable assistance in the creation and execution of the Lantern Lighting Festival. Traditional Japanese and American festival food will be served, and shuttle service will be available from Bandana Square starting at 2:30 p.m. The grounds will open at 3:00 p.m. with entertainment beginning at 4:00 p.m. Festival tickets cost $5 per person or $10 per household.

About the Como Ordway Memorial Japanese Garden. The Japanese Garden opened in 1979 with funds donated by the family of Mrs. John G. Ordway. Mr. Masami Matsuda, a ninth-generation Master Gardener, designed the garden in the chisen-kaiya (strolling pond) style as a gift from Sister City Nagasaki. In 1990-1991, Matsuda supervised a complete renovation of the site, adding a teahouse and roji (tea garden). The Garden stays true to its Japanese traditions, using the elements of rock, water and plants to create a tranquil environment that guests are invited to experience from many angles.
The Como Ordway Memorial Japanese Garden is the second Japanese garden to grace Como Park. The first was created in 1904 and disappeared from the Park Commission reports in 1909. The four white granite lanterns in the current garden are originals of the 1904 tea garden. In fact, they were showcased in the Japanese Exhibit at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, Mo.

The Como Zoo & Marjorie McNeely Conservatory, located in Como Park of Saint Paul, house a variety of plants and animals that visitors from around Minnesota and elsewhere come to enjoy year-round. The Zoo & Conservatory strive to help guests connect the relationships between plants and animals, while consistently focusing on the message of conservation. The Como Park Zoo & Conservatory Society supports the Como Park Zoo & Conservatory and its programs through fundraising and marketing. For more information about the Zoo or Conservatory, visit:

www.comozooconservatory.org

The words that scare me the most are "family-friendly" which means there is going to be kids everywhere and though the prospect of checking out hot moms does appeal to me. Still there would be far too many kids to peak my interest.

it was really fun, there were many differnt japanese martial arts being displayed as well as dancing and plays. over all i plan to go dressed up next year. dont worry mark only like 5% were actually kids.

I will probly go as a samurai, there were allot of kimonos though, i dont think as many guys dressed up as girls did.

Kenshin Itachi wrote:

dont worry mark only like 5% were actually kids.

Only 5% ohh this is even worse now theres not going to be any hot moms around.

Oh samuri's are so common, they're like ants, they don't go away. Try something completely different. Like for example be a Chimera (I don't know how to spell). or arrive in a clown suit, it would throw everyone off!

the problem is, this isnt anime this is Japanese Culture from the feudal days

Honey wrote:

well... Fullmetal Alchemist took place a long time ago :3

That took place in an alterative Europe during WWI.

it takes place at the end of WWI and the movie is right before WWII with Hitler's first attempt at over throwing the government. But anyways move any further FMA or anime related posts to the Anime related forum catagorie, this is the obon feastival topic, so please keep it on topic

no locking this topic, cause its just like detour =P thats right. Anyways, it is great, cost 5 bucks to get in and have a great japanese expirience, i highly suggest going

well the obon feastival happens every year, just like detour, if we lock up this one we will have to lock up detours =P see the delema?

Quit your spamming and serriously the obon feastival is really fun, they even have japanese food everywhere, i gained 5 lbs there -.-

it was $5 to get in and the food costed me moneyz too

i personally like the festival although i havnt went, but i want to go!!!!

i would wear a kimono or something like that??eh???
i dunno

FF>> x4months: this sounds like fun! if i get my bleach hakama done and may geta too i would kinda-sorta fit in...i guess...

i wanted to go last year but i forgot when it was and nobody *cough*itachi*cough* never really said anything about it.