What could be lovelier than springtime in the Orient? Just picture yourself walking along the
Wakamiya Oji Dori, breathing in the sweet scent of the blossom laden cherry trees, or standing on a windy hill, holding tightly to your
kite as it soars toward the sun.
LunarFest 08, Year of the Rat
This year the Orient held the 4th annual LunarFest from Feb 21-25. It took an army of volunteers and months of planning; this year marked the first we've opted to feature the New Years traditions celebrated by Mongolia, Korea and Vietnam. It was a learning experience for all, participants and hardworking party planners.
The 21st was the Opening ceremony, a fun, unscripted gathering held in our annually redesigned LunarFest thread where New Years traditions were featured, our 'ongoing events' were made available for use, Taiko drummers were danced to and everyone sent Lunar E-Cards thru Alerissa's AW Ecard center.
The 22nd was Tet Nguyen in Vietnam with an Ancestral Shrine to visit, a Tet article, a Cau Doi thread for Tet style spring poetry and the funny writing event, 'Dont forget your Fish Sauce!' to celebrate the scarier side of Vietnam cuisine. Event winners were Ng Mui in 1st place and Germaniae in 2nd.
The 23rd was Tsagaan Sar in Mongolia, with a fun quiz of Mongolia's Manly Games, 2 Mongolia articles, the opening of the Wretched Mare Yurt & Taberna and the primary event was the (very stylish) Sacred Mare Treasure Hunt, whose winners were Chaka in 1st, Senex grabbed 2nd and Taysat in 3rd place.
The 24th was Solnal in Korea, with the Hall of Worthies article tour featuring many great Asian articles, 2 new Korea articles of it's own, and the main event of the day (week actually) was the Shaman's Storytelling contest which ran through to Wednesday to allow more entries. The winners were Hoshiko in 1st, Tao in 2nd and Hakuin in 3rd.
The 25th was our closing ceremony, where we waved farewell to LunarFest for another year, ate our fill from a traditional New Years menu featuring select cuisine from each of our three highlight countries, drinks and entertainment by Kenji who really outdid himself and we all selected a take home gift from a wide choice including Sankira's Rats for every occasion and gift kiosks built by Vortigern and Xena in each highlight country board. [Year of Rat gifts + Vietnam, Mongolia & Korea]
LunarFest is over but quite a lot is still available for enjoying, and hopefully Egypt will let their cats out after BastFest to help us clean up our rampant rat problem! Endless Thank You's to Sankira, Shibori, Rachana, Kazuo, Senex, Vort, Xena, Kenji, Alerissa, Sementawy and everyone who helped make this such a memorable LunarFest.
~by Lara Vardhana
Dream Destinations: Siam
Where I'd like to go is Siam, because I'm a Siamese Cat and I'd like see the land of my ancestors. Of course it's not called Siam any more, but
Thailand. Once upon a time, we Siamese cats were so special that only royalty was allowed to own us, not that anyone ever really owns a cat, as I'm sure you know.
When someone important died, one of us was selected to receive his soul. With this job came all sorts of perks. Not only did we get to live in the temple but we were given only the finest foods to eat, and off golden plates at that! The relatives of the dead person provided these things as well as soft silk covered cushions for us to sleep on. Can you just imagine how many times those would have had to be replaced, what with our kneading our claws on such luxury? From time to time, these relatives would come around and try to get us to intercede with the gods for the peaceful rest of their deceased. A slow blink of our mysterious blue eyes would have been enough to impart that we knew something those humans didn't know.
In the late nineteenth century, an Englishman took a pair of us home to his sister. We are such beautiful and intelligent cats that soon we were being bred all over the western world. But there are still thousands of Buddhist temples in Thailand and I'm sure that in one of them, I'll get to meet a feline soul guardian and that he will share his dinner and cushion with me, in return for tales of my adventures in the outside world.
~by Clare Song
Language Lesson
While traveling and living in the Orient, one often visits or beomes friends with a persona who has chosen a Korean family name.
Rachana Khan has provided us with some helpful greetings and useful phrases for use in the
Korean hoods, homes and with your Korean friends. Just for starters:
- anyong hashimnika
This means: Good Morning
- Cho-um pepkaysumnida
This means: Nice to meet you
- jujeomi eodie itsseumnigga ?
This means: Where's the bar?
To learn more Korean phrases, read Rachana's
10 Things to Say When You're in Korea
Orient Site Map
Have you ever forgotten where you saw that interesting group or hood home in the Orient? Help is at hand!
Aria Murasaka has created a wonderful Oriental site map to help us navigate our complicated world. Take some time to explore this most useful resource. You'll wonder how we ever did without it!
Archaeology News
An ancient wooden tablet from the Nara period which was used to record a business transaction has been found in Shizuoka, Japan.
Nara period wooden tablet
Ancient books written in unique characters found two years ago in Chongqing, China, remain intriguing but indecipherable.
Ancient Chinese books
Archaeologists have found the remains of a 2,500 year old city in the state of Orissa in eastern India.
Ancient Indian City
