Not a member? Become one here today!
Members of Bellingham Sister Cities Association are invited to the 2020 Shinnenkai Japanese New Years Celebration on Sunday, January 12, 2:30 to 5:00 PM at Bloedel-Donovan Park Gymnasium. Potluck, Customary Japanese Activities, and New Years Greetings to all. A suggested donation will be welcomed at the door.
2020 is the Year of the Rat in Japan. Eek! However, in spite of our perception of the rat, for the Japanese, the mammal represents calmness, patience, gentleness, practicality, setting achievable goals, skill in maintaining good relationships, attention to detail, and likability.
Lesson: Eek! to us may be Yay! to others, and understanding this difference leads to World Peace.
We will feature several community groups with connections to Japan including the Sansei Japanese Americans, the Bellingham High School Japanese Language Classes, WCC Japanese Culture Club, our Sister City friends from neighboring Ferndale, the Ikebana Group, and new this year, the Bellingham Igo Club. Igo is a form of tick-tack-toe from Japan.
In addition to mochitsuki rice pounding, the featured cultural activity will be making and flying taketombo, a bamboo helicopter toy. The Japanese Language students of BHS will be responsible for building the toys and writing Japanese salutations and visitors’ names on the toys. There will be a distance competition with a handsome prize for the winner. We will be using materials supplied by the Tateyama International Exchange Society, our counterpart in Tateyama.
Our potluck self-service gets faster every year so bring your favorite dish!
