博多どんたく祭り (Hakata Dontaku Festival)

The Golden Week is here. It is only a name for the period when there are more holidays following each others. Wednesday was Constitution Memorial Day, followed by Greenery Day and today is Children's Day. Actually the Golden Week started last Saturday with Showa Day but it was only a one-day off.

For the Constitution Memorial Day and Greenery Day there was a two-day festival in Fukuoka, called Dontaku Matsuri (=Dontaku Festival). The word Dontaku comes originally from the Dutch word Zondag which means Sunday or holiday. A describing name for a festival during the Golden Week. The festival is known for the long parades that walk on the streets. Music is a signicifant part of the parades and many people clap shamoji, wooden spoons for serving rice. They are an image of a cooking woman who rushes out of her house to join the parade. Unfortunately on Wednesday when we got to the parade street the weather changed suddenly from the sunshine to heavy rain. Thousands of people who had come to see the parade ran indoors or under the roofs. It was kind of sad to see the gorgeous dragon structure passing by when it didn't get the kind of cheering it had deserved. And soon after that we heard that the rest of the parade had been cancelled. But since all the rain came down at one time, it was dry soon again and we got to see other shows around the center.

This one is a very describing picture for half an hour on the first day.

The most interesting "potato chips"

I had a chance to check the festival again on Thursday since I went to the center anyway because I had a ticket for a concert. One of my volunteer Japanese class teachers had given me again a free ticket and this time I got to listen to Fukuoka flute orchestra. It was once again really nice and I liked especially their arrangement of Tonari no Totoro movie. After the concert I could enjoy the festival parade though had to stand behind a mass of people. Because the weather was much better than the day before, lots of people were trying to find the best spot to see. There were many many groups walking in the parade, so that it was still going on after I went to check Canal City shopping center for a couple of hours. The whole festival reminded me of vappu but just in a bigger scale and with some Asian additions.

Nordic walking team. And they even announced: "Sport in Finland, the country of Santa Clause." I was happy to hear that after we had had a wrong information about Santa Clauses home in our reading material last semester.

Last days it really became summer here. It is too warm even with a t-shirt when the sun is shining. Well, at least I can say bye to the coldness in my room. It reached almost 30 degrees today inside even thought it was a half cloudy day. Oh dear, and it will just just get hotter an hotter... Now it feels like I am in the Southern Japan again.