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Street Fair in Chinatown
May. 22nd, 2010 11:48 pmDespite a torrential downpour at noon, the streets of Cleveburg's tiny Chinatown were crowded for the first annual "Asian Festival."
The events were dominated by music and martial arts, so there was something for me and something for Lord Branwyn. *grin* A local group played traditional Japanese drums, while the choir of a Chinese church sang Protestant hymns with a gorgeous violin accompaniment (almost enough to make me attend services, lol). A Korean man played the cymbals while doing what looked like the Korean equivalent of break-dancing. He hopped in a circle while doing a series of spinning wheel kicks. There wasn't an explanation, but I wonder if it was some kind of religious dance because the dancer wore a vaguely monastic-looking costume. Now that his old knee injury has healed, Lord Branwyn is shopping around for a new martial arts school, so he was very interested in watching a couple of the martial arts demonstrations. We watched kali, Phillipino stick fighting, and Isshinryu karate (which happens to be the one Asian martial art I have ever studied--I took it as my undergraduate PE requirement).
We also wandered around the food booths set up by restaurants and social organizations. We had already eaten lunch, but Lord Branwyn and I shared an order of sesame-coated rice cakes with lotus seed filling. The lotus seed didn't have much of a flavor besides sweet, but the cakes were still good.
The festival was very well-organized, especially considering that this was its first year. We are hoping that it will become part of the regular calendar of summer festivals.
The events were dominated by music and martial arts, so there was something for me and something for Lord Branwyn. *grin* A local group played traditional Japanese drums, while the choir of a Chinese church sang Protestant hymns with a gorgeous violin accompaniment (almost enough to make me attend services, lol). A Korean man played the cymbals while doing what looked like the Korean equivalent of break-dancing. He hopped in a circle while doing a series of spinning wheel kicks. There wasn't an explanation, but I wonder if it was some kind of religious dance because the dancer wore a vaguely monastic-looking costume. Now that his old knee injury has healed, Lord Branwyn is shopping around for a new martial arts school, so he was very interested in watching a couple of the martial arts demonstrations. We watched kali, Phillipino stick fighting, and Isshinryu karate (which happens to be the one Asian martial art I have ever studied--I took it as my undergraduate PE requirement).
We also wandered around the food booths set up by restaurants and social organizations. We had already eaten lunch, but Lord Branwyn and I shared an order of sesame-coated rice cakes with lotus seed filling. The lotus seed didn't have much of a flavor besides sweet, but the cakes were still good.
The festival was very well-organized, especially considering that this was its first year. We are hoping that it will become part of the regular calendar of summer festivals.
