Festival Drummers 3

Festival Drummers 2

Festival Drummers 1

There Is Always A Festival Going On In Okinawa

Like my title, there is seriously always going on here on this little island. Okinawans celebrate everything and everywhere all the time. There are always music, dancers and food vendors. This is pictures from a festival here in Uruma where we live, just outside the base pretty much. It was a Friday night, sometime in fall, and Cassandra was busy hanging with friends and Chris was most likely still working, as I walked down with Benjamin and Isabella on my own to have a look and take in the culture.

The drummers were amazing. Such rhythm, such precision. Noone fell out of line, noone was too slow or too fast, it was beautiful to see and pretty awesome to listen to.

The performance was on the street that they had closed down for the festival, so people were sitting down on the sidewalks and also on the street to get a good view.

I managed to find a spot right in front of the performers so that we all could sit down and have a really good view. As I wanted to take pictures and even film some, I didn't want to keep holding up kids to see all the time. It worked out fine!

Pretty strong arms (and abs) needed to keep drumming on these drums!

My young little explorers - 

enjoying cultural experiences that will make memories for a lifetime!

Walking home after the performance was over! Great spontaneous night!

Local School Performance

Close to our home, outside of the base, there is a local Elementary School. For weeks we could hear drums and singing and all kind of music going on during their classes in the mornings. They were all practicing outside in the courtyard, and on one Saturday morning, we found out that this was the day that they were going to have a performance.

As it was open to the public, we took Benjamin and Isabella and walked over there to check it out. This was back in fall, but as I'm going through pictures, I wanted to share these, as it was great experience to see the local Japanese kids sing and dance and play those drums in a perfect beat!

When we arrived, they had a lunch break, but we were told that they were going to start up soon again, so we decided to wait.

Everyone tried to catch a spot in the shade. The heat and humidity was cruel!

The special judges were sitting in a covered area, but probably inside to eat.

Kids and parents were crowding under the shaded areas as much as they could.

Close to where we sat, I saw a father helping his son putting on the special head piece that had to be tied on in a special manner. He rolled it and pulled the fabric and it was a big piece of fabric. It was interesting to watch, and I walked closer to ask him if it was alright to take their picture, which it was.

Dad proudly putting the headpiece on his son!

Soon they were to perform and out came the little drums.

Different costumes for different ages maybe? 

We couldn't figure it out, but they were all very colorful and very pretty!

Excitedly waiting for the dance/performance to begin.

Haha, in this picture it almost looks like I photo shopped them into the picture!

Lining up in different rows getting ready to start!

Drumming and music began with a lot of determined walking in different circles.

An older girl with painted face was dancing on her own, having some other part of the dance.

There were a lot of dancing, different groups, different costumes and even if we didn't understand the meaning of the performance, you could see that everyone took it very serious. There were no messing around, strong discipline and respect, but also a lot of smiles and laughter!!

After being there for about two hours, it was time to leave. We had a wonderful cultural experience and we're glad that we went, but the heat was terrible. Everyone was hot, and the kids were sweating and it was time to get into the shade or the A/C. Before getting home, we stopped to get some shaved ice for the kids, which was much appreciated.

Strawberry!

Grape!