Matsuri!!

The kids and I are settling into a weekend routine where we have one day to visit with one of my friends and do something interesting, and one day to hang around the house and catch up on laundry and other chores (for me, with some help), and reading (for my two bookworms).  Yesterday was our active day - wonderful example of one, with a visit to the Paper Museum, Sunshine City's "Gyoza Stadium" and "Pudding Fair," (think amusement park inside a skyscraper, with special food areas - kind of, just kind of - like the Mall of America), and then a great big amazing sale on designer clothes (70-90% off).   All done with an old friend of mine who I had completely lost touch with.

So anyway - that means today should have been our quiet day, right?  While doing laundry, I heard a big taiko drum.  Look over the balcony and a kids mikoshi is coming down the street.  I'm not really the right person to teach anyone about shinto traditions - but here's the basics, anyway.  Shinto shrines are local institutions, closely tied to place and neighborhood.  Once or twice a year each shrine will have a festival of some sort - lots tied to the agriculture seasons.  At that time, one of the main features is to take the god(s) from the local shrine out for a tour of their neighborhood.  Small gold-leaf covered palanquins (house-things, says Lia) with a phoenix on top, and lots of fancy decorations rest on top of criss-crossing wooden beams.  The palanquins are called mikoshi.  So, the first one we saw this morning was small and light, carried by kids, encouraged on by the beat of a great big drum also being pulled by a parade of little kids.  And I mean a BIG drum... on a float, maybe 12 feet high.  Kids rushed outside and took lots of pictures and soaked it in.  Then an hour later we heard more shouting - the adults mikoshi was coming!

We watched and photographed.  Even took a trip up to our roof so we could watch the procession a little longer.  Its really something, because the men and women carrying the mikoshi chant and bounce it around on their shoulders so the god inside gets a good outing.

After a few more chores we headed over to our neighborhood shopping district, and all the mikoshi were gathering in the main shrine.  Festival food and crowds everywhere.  We ate shaved ice, some kind of middle eastern sandwiches (hey, new traditions are ok, right?), and then a Chinese style stuffed pancake.  And boba tea.  And we bought corn on the cob, but had to put that in the fridge for later since we're all full.

Whew!  So much for our quiet day.  I did get all the laundry done, even so.
Kathy

A few more words from Lia about this weekend:
Mixed in with all this excitement we also spotted a blimp.  It was really, really big.  We went out on our balcony and Evan took some pictures.  The blimp went away.  So all quiet now, right?  But then later we saw the blimp again but way closer and turning.  Evan got a few pictures.  And we figured out what it was.  All it was was an advertisement.

And from Evan:
So today in the morning we were hearing this drum and didn't know what it was, and then mom said go out on the porch with your camera!  So we went out and it was a big drum being pulled by a parade of kids and a small palanquin.  When we saw that they were stopping we were interested, and the kids looked like they were having a lot of fun.  After a while they walked off to a busy street, and we don't know what they did then.  I think it is an interesting tradition.  I like it because it seems that even if you don't believe in the gods you can enjoy the idea because everyone is having so much fun.  There's so much food and it's a big celebration, and that's all I have to say.