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2009-0404 - Asian Week - First International Lao New Year Festival

http://www.asianweek.com/2009/04/03/first-international-lao-new-year-festival/

Saturday, April 04, 2009

Browse > Home / Art, News / First International Lao New Year Festival

First International Lao New Year Festival

April 3, 2009

A Green papaya salad contest, flying and making your own kite, and more are part of this year’s first International Lao New Year Festival (ILNYF) celebration on Saturday, April 11, 2009 at the San Francisco Civic Center Plaza from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Theree will also be an Evening of Cultural Reception at the Green Room of the San Francisco War Memorial & Performing Arts Center will be from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. that same day.

According to the Theravada Buddhist calendar, Lao people will be celebrating the year 2552 this April. “The celebration is considered to be the most important and biggest traditional festival in the country which coincides with the end of the dry season and the start of the monsoon season. It is also seen as a day of rebirth and purification,” said Dr. Vinya Sysamouth, Executive Director of the Center for Lao Studies.

In Lao legend, the New Year celebration started after Thao Kabinlaphrom lost his life in a bet to a young man who was able to solve a three-part riddle. Per his request, Thao Kabinlaphrom’s seven daughters (representing each day of the week) took great care not to let his severed head touch the ground or there would be a catastrophe. The head was kept at Mt. Sumeru until the New Year when each daughter would take turns to cleanse it.

Despite the mysterious setting of the legend, today’s celebration is all about joyous activities, family union, making offerings to Buddha and gaining blessings from others. The New Year celebration in California, which will unite the people from Laos worldwide, also includes a special Opening Reception at Marin Museum of Contemporary Art at the Hamilton Field, located in Novato. Hamilton Field is important to Laotian Americans and Southeast Asian Americans, as Angel Island is to Chinese Americans and Ellis Island is to European Americans. After the Vietnam War, many Lao refugees came through Hamilton Field, which is formally known as the Hamilton Army Airfield, before their transition to other parts of the country.

The first International Lao New Year celebration is expected to draw more than 30,000 people. The festival, hosted by three nationally non-profit organizations, the Center for Lao Studies (CLS), the Laotian American National Alliance (LANA), and the Lao Heritage Foundation (LHF) “is an opportunity to celebrate pride in our ancestral heritage, to showcase the best of Lao arts and cultures through collaboration, and to educate the general public about the plight of Lao American experience in the United States during the past 30 years,” explained Sourichanh (Sirch) Chanthyasack, ILNYF Chair and President of the Laotian American National Alliance.

The following are highlights of the full-day festival on April 11:

Cultural Activities:
• Tak Baht Merit Making or Buddhist Alms Offering Ceremony to Local Buddhist Monks
• Buddha Image Procession and Parade
• Suukhwan/Baci New Year Blessings by Tying Well Wishing Strings on Wrists
• “Buffalo Roaming” ? Story Writing on Life Size Herd of Water Buffalos
Recreational Activities:
• Kato Lao Championship Demonstration by the USA Takraw Association
• Tam Maak Huung/Green Papaya Salad Contest
• Kite Flying: Make and fly your own kite
• New Year Water Splashing Activities
Cultural Performances:
• Khene Music by Smithsonian Folk Artist/Khene Master Bounseung Sinanonh
• Lam Folk Songs by Smithsonian Folk Singer Khamta Mounixay
• Jonny Olsen’s Khene and Lam
• Multi Ethnic Fashion Show
• Traditional Music and Dance Performances
Kinnaly—Lao Traditional Music and Dance Troupe from Seattle, WA
Khmu Sword Dance—by the Khmu National Federation
International Hmong Dancers, by the International Hmong New Year Festival, Inc., Fresno, CA
Burmese New Year Song and Dance
Intermission: Special Appearance
• Master Shi Yanran, Shaolin Temple USA, Shaolin Kung Fu
Stage Performance/Entertainment:
• Pop/R&B Sensations, ALUNA from Vientiane, Laos
• Pop/R&B Sensations, SAM from Vientiane, Laos
• Up Coming Queen of Pop ANOUCK from London, England
• Lao American Pop Artist, KETSANA
• Lao American Hip Hop, LILA T.
• Lao American Reggaeton, ALEX SAN DINERO
• Lao American De Laos a Puerto Rico FANTAZMA
• Lao American Hip Hop Rap Artist GUMBY a.k.a. PRYCE
• Local Lao American Artists, EVIN AFTER, featuring SARKY, KOU, and LINA
• Lao American Adult Alternative Acoustic MALYSSA a.k.a. KRISTY

http://www.laonewyear.com/

Written by Lian Qiu · Filed Under Art, News

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______________
Dr. Justin McDaniel
Dept. of Religious Studies
3046 INTN
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
951-827-4530
justinm at ucr.edu