NURTURE, REGENERATE AND CELEBRATE
Hawai‘i in Festival of Pacific Arts
HONOLULU — A 62-member Hawai‘i delegation is in the Pacific Island nation of Palau to participate in the quadrennial 10-day Festival of Pacific Arts.
“Everyone is very excited,” said Mapuana de Silva, leader of the Hawai‘i delegation. “We have been meeting every day to get things ready.”
Twenty-five other countries and territories will participate in the festival, which is held every four years at a different Pacific island location.
This year’s theme is “Nurture, Regenerate and Celebrate.” It promotes the idea that “the protection of natural resources helps the retention of island culture and spirit, and that the knowledge of one generation should be transmitted successfully to the next,” according to the festival website.
CONGRESSIONAL FUNDING
Pelosi Secures Filipino Cultural Center
SAN FRANCISCO — With an additional $400,000 in funding now, the transformation of San Francisco’s Emporium Building into the Filipino Cultural Center will be complete. Last year, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi obtained $200,000 to assist with the restoration of the building.
“The Filipino community has a rich history in San Francisco. This center will be a focal point for the community’s activities and events,” Pelosi said.
EVENT: Japanese American Summer Bon Festivals
BACKGROUND: Buddhist legend says the iron pot in hell only opens once a year. Many Japanese have celebrated this day, Obon, for centuries. During Obon, ancestors and recently deceased friends and relatives are welcomed home with lighted lanterns and food offerings.
INTERESTING: Both Bay Area festivals feature bon odori, religious folk-dancing to comfort the spirits of the dead; kendo demonstrations (Japanese-style fencing with bamboo swords); and taiko drumming.
DETAILS: Aug. 1 in Japantown in San Francisco, (415) 567-4573. Aug. 14 - 15 at the Diablo Japanese Cultural Center in Concord; www.diablojaclub.com.
EVENT: Return of the Buddha: The Qingzhou Discoveries
BACKGROUND: Thirty-five recently discovered sixth-century limestone Chinese Buddha and bodhisattva statues from Qingzhou, China.
INTERESTING: The New York Times calls it “one of the finest Asian shows in recent history.” The unusual amount of gilding and vibrant red and green pigments on the statues allows one to imagine decorated sculpture in ancient China.
DETAILS: Through Aug. 8 at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington, D.C., (202) 633-1000 or www.asia.si.edu.
EVENT: 10th Annual Aloha Festival
BACKGROUND: See musical and dance troupes, attend workshops on ‘oil (chanting) and kappa (Hawaiian cloth) making, and taste kalua pork and malasadas (Portuguese donuts).
INTERESTING: California has more native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders than Hawai‘i (over 36,000 in the Bay Area), according to Census 2000. That alone is something to have a ho’olaule’a (“celebration”) about.
DETAILS: Aug. 7 - 8 at the Presidio Parade Grounds in San Francisco (free), (415) 281-0221 or www.pica-org.org.
EVENT: Interfaith Service and Prayer for Joseph Santos Ileto
BACKGROUND: Aug. 10 marks the fifth anniversary of the hate-motivated shootings of Joseph Santos Ileto and the children and adults at the North Valley Jewish Community Center.
INTERESTING: Join in the struggle to prevent hate and to foster unity.
DETAILS: Aug. 10 at 7 p.m. at Cathedral of Our Lady of Angeles in Los Angeles, (213) 680-5200.
EVENT: Body Around
BACKGROUND: Nine Korean video artists tackle the current nomadic conditions of “Korean anonymous bodies.”
INTERESTING: Cheering hordes for the 2002 World Cup appear eerily with Nazi uprisings and 1980s democracy demonstrations in Heung-Soon Im’s The Will of Triumph. Past wounds reopen in San-Gon Chung’s Quotation-Visiting South Korea, which explores how South Korean newspapers portray two North Koreans.
DETAILS: Through Aug. 7 at the Korean Cultural Center in Los Angeles, (323) 936-7141.