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 Christmas in Okinawa is mostly a commercialized holiday bringing plastic Santas and decorated trees to department stores giving Okinawans another chance to celebrate the changing seasons. Lights are strung up around the cities, and the Shisa, a silent guardian to every entrance and home, are found wearing bright red Santa hats and reindeer antlers in the spirit of a distant holiday. Christmas may draw excitement to the island, but it is not as anticipated as the many other festivals celebrated around the same time. |
| Although Okinawa follows the Chinese lunar year in all of its events, the people will never hesitate to include Western holidays with their own, especially with the large presence of Americans around the military bases that remain as a vestige of war. A great example is the two "New Years" that will often be celebrated throughout the year. Both Americans and Okinawans alike with get together to celebrate the New Year on January 1st. |
| One of the most active areas around this time of year is the Americanized Mihama, otherwise known as "American Village". Americans will travel there for shopping, game arcades and great rotary sushi, the Okinawan version of fast food. The younger generation of Japanese sees it as a cool place to hang out and to visit the large seven-screen theater or Ferris wheel built on the roof of a building housing stores and restaurants. Often there is a space where popular Japanese bands give live performances. When the New Year arrives, Mihama is dressed in lights, and the countdown brings a bright display of fireworks to bring in the "Western" New Year. |
| About a month later, the Okinawans turn again to celebrate Chinese New Year with the blooming of the Sakura or Cherry Blossom, a luxurious flower that blooms for only a couple weeks to a month, smothering the trees that bear it before its pink and white petals fall to reveal bright green leaves. During the brief glimpse of these blossoms there are many festivals, and thousands take long hikes or enjoy picnic lunches under the flowering canopy.A typical New Year celebration will begin visiting a Shrine with family and friends to pray for good fortune for the coming year and to receive a note of paper holding the following year's fortune. After reading it, everyone will tie all the notes together on lines strung by the shrine, thus insuring that the predicted good fortune will come true. It is also believed that if the fortune notes are tied closely to those of the people you love, fate will keep you together for the year. Afterward, people will visit the closest soba house to eat the first bowl of soba noodles of the year. Later in the day, long relaxing walks under the pink petals of new Sakura blossoms are enjoyed by everyone. Some cities and villages will hold their own Sakura festivals. However, shrines and mountains are the most popular places to visit and enjoy festivals, parades and the scenery. |
| Festivals are an important part of life in Okinawa, giving the island a chance to showcase its unique blend of Chinese and Japanese cultures. Most typical celebrations follow a pattern. Tents strung with lanterns and light bulbs are assembled days prior to the event where they will illuminate grills of hot Yakitori (gilled chicken kebob), Yakisoba (noodles with vegetables), and Tacoyaki (grilled octopus made into bite size balls).Crowds will fill the dirt walkways between the rows of tents. The sizzling of fresh food thrown on grills mixes with the hum of excited conversations and the lively shouts of chefs drawing in crowds with promises of cold drinks and, during the hot summer months, with snow cones to counteract the effects of the blistering sun. Children beg parents for some coins to play games and win prizes that range anywhere from cheap toys and stuffed animals to toy guns and new hand-held electronic games. The constant buzz grows with excitement as the loud boom of Taiko drums and calls of Eisa dancers clears a path for another element of a typical Okinawan celebration, the parade. |
| Whether it is a local festival of farmers and lively dancing or the sophisticated, disciplined dance of royalty, many of the faces and characters remain the same. One of the first images seen leading a parade is what appears to be a tall man with a giant friendly smile on his face. From his high perch he waves a fan to the people lining the streets, and they bow their respects and greet him. Children will rush to meet him, hands outstretched in hopes of a shower of candy. This is Miroku Yugafu, a god of harvest and agriculture. |
| In the traditional Okinawan dialect, Yugafu indicates one who naturally brings joy and happiness to everyone he meets, which is exactly what Miroku does for the people of Okinawa. A visit from Miroku is believed to bring abundant prosperity and life to the crops and people of the village. According to some stories, he also created cats and dogs to run off the mice and boars destroying the crops and pestering villagers. The Eisa dancers are easily recognizable by both sight and sound. The deep booms of big drums slung over shoulders vibrate through the air accompanied by the light pongs of the smaller drums as dancers leap and spin to the beat. The dancers are often dressed in their typical village costume or in brightly colored uniforms, headbands trailing down their backs and fluttering behind them. The style of dance may appear odd at first with dancers taking high and wide steps while drumming in precise movements. Voices ring out in a chant that draws responses from the crowd who remember lessons in Eisa learned years ago in elementary school. The Eisa dance is an important part of Okinawan culture, and there isn't a festival in the Ryukyu chain that goes unaccompanied by the Taiko, a uniquely decorated drum specific to the Ryukyuan culture. |
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Throughout the uniform lines of the Eisa dancers a man wearing a hat and waving a bamboo fan or holding a bottle of sake wine stumbles through the parade, weaving in and out of lines in a sort of dance of his own. He is Chondara, loosely translated as the "town drunk". However, he does not have the negative image his counterpart might have in the West.Chondara is an amusement to watch as he uses his fan to ward off evil spirits or more likely to encourage bystanders to join him in a drink. His face is painted white and marked with distinct designs, and he is dressed in simple robes, a twist of rope servings as a belt. His piercing whistle is an off-key attempt to keep time with the Taiko beat and chants of the Eisa dancers. He gives the appearance of a man enjoying life as he encourages the laughing bystanders to join the parade. |
| When traveling the island, the Shisa , a traditional decoration often found in pairs and resembling a cross between a lion and a dog is often seen glaring down with a piercing stare from its post at doorways and rooftops. Shisas can be seen all over the island on humble homes in small farming towns as well as in the main cities of Nago and Naha on tall buildings and entrances to stores and parking garages. Even McDonald's has taken this protector and guardian and has it perched on its red tiled roof. |
| However, the Shishimai, or Shisa dance, is another lively dance performed by a costumed celebrant. In the dance, the fierce guardian is transformed into a fun loving spirit as it leaps and runs, wagging its furry tail and snapping its great wooden jaws at the audience to bring the people good luck. Children and adults alike laugh and try to pet the Shisa as it bounds by and catches a ball thrown by the Chondara clown. The Shisa brings a warm feeling of timeless joy and ancient protection and is not only a part of Ryukyuan history and culture, but an important aspect of the beliefs of the typical family in Okinawa. |
| These are the common scenes of every festival held throughout the islands of the ancient Ryukyu kingdom and modern Okinawa prefecture. No matter which festival you attend, no matter what the celebration, these are the faces that peer out from within the crowds and make Okinawa unique.
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| Ever since the beginning of the Ryukyu Kingdom centuries ago, the Okinawans have adopted and learned from outside cultures, incorporating what they liked, molding it into their own, unique identity. This still holds true today as glimpses of Western holidays are seen combining Japanese celebrations, Chinese influences and traditional Ryukyuan festivals. |
For additional information visit: www.mikesryukyugallery.com |
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| © 2009 ROMAR TRAVEL GUIDES |
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