DECK THE HOLIDAY'S

   The throbbing beat of traditional drums will be heard across Okinawa beginning tomorrow, a dance celebration of Obon that fills the air with excitement and happiness amidst prayers for good health and a good harvest.    Okinawa City is hosting what many bill as the largest Eisa festival on the island, the 53rd Island-wide Eisa Festival on a three-day run beginning tomorrow. The festival takes place at Koza Athletic Park and Track and Field Stadium, starting with a parade Friday at 7 p.m. The parade winds its way through Mutsumiga Oka Park, Koza Music Town and along Gate 2 Street.    Eisa, an Okinawan ceremonial dance using drums, was originally performed to welcome and console the souls of one’s ancestors during the Summer ‘Bon’ season, but has evolved into community celebrations. Eisa festivals are a photographer’s dream, with the steady beat of various drums leading dances to multiple dynamic moves, while the colorful and exotic costumes...

Churro Bites Please tell me you’ve all tried a churro… a real churro? Not the long, freeze and bake churros they sale at theme parks, ball games or the mall. I mean freshly fried, made from scratch kind of churros. If you said no, stop what you are doing, drive home if you have to and make these. Life needs churros :). I love churros and yes I’ll admit, every now and then I will buy those churro sticks that are sitting in a warming oven at a shopping center because how do I resist that cinnamon sugar smell floating through the air, and then I have two kids and a husband smelling the same thing so we’re definitely doomed.  There is no better advertising than the scent of good food and cinnamon is one of the best. Those little bakeries don’t need banners, signs or logos, they just need to continue to put their delicious, free smells through the air and we’ll keep stopping and giving in. But please, hold out if you can and make churros at home, they ar...

Yesterdays Halloween is not like Todays celebrated traditions, in the world of today we hand out candy to kids carve pumpkins and dress up as a spook or witch. Is the founded traditions in anyway related to todays?     I love Halloween.  You can dress up however you like, eat all the candy you want and scare the heck out of kids that want to act tough.    Today  Halloween  has diverted from the ancient Celtic traditions in which Samh ain (Sow-in). marked the end of summer and its harvest bringing forth the dark, cold winter, a time associated with human death and on this night the Celts believed it was the night “Ghosts” would return to earth, cause trouble and damage crops. Which brought the Celts to wear costumes, burn their crops and sacrifice animals. The Celts were conquered in 43 A.D. by the Romans, in which they replaced Samh ain with their own twist on the holiday turning Samh ain into All-hallows-eve which would be kno...