May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (APAHM), designated to celebrate and commemorate the contributions of people of Asian and Pacific Islander descent in the United States. And what a way to kick it off this year! Today was my first time participating/attending the Dragon Boat Festival and it was AMAZING! Sadly, we did not win, but we did well for our first time (I want to say 15 out of the 16 paddlers had never done this before).
Dragon Boat Racing is traditionally celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth Chinese lunar month (typically in June) in coincidence of the Summer Solstice. It is a ritual celebration in honor of the sun to ensure a successful rice seedling transplant into their paddy fields and of the dragon to ward off evil (aka pestilence and disease since hot summer temperatures led to rot and putrification). Celestial dragons were also the controllers of the rain and venerating the dragon deity was meant to encourage rainfall.
To continue the celebration of APAHM, the first Asian Cultural Festival will be taking place next Saturday (May 8, from 11am-6pm) at the Point Loma NTC Park/Liberty Station. The festival strives to celebrate the diversity of San Diego’s Asian and Pacific Islander Community with cultural exhibitions (martial arts included), cooking demos, and of course food! The festival will also give attendees a glimpse into the Asian and Pacific Islander heritage that influences today’s Asian American talent. We hope to educate and share with non-Asians the arts and traditions of our ethnic populations, as well as support and preserve cultural harmony and build intergenerational and intercultural bridges across all barriers.
A FREE event the whole family will enjoy, I hope you will come out and try something new! (Not to mention it’ll make me really happy to see you!)
Asian Cultural Festival of San Diego
Saturday, May 8th, 2010, from 11am to 6pm
The NTC Park/Liberty Station, at the intersection of Roosevelt Road and Cushing Road, 92106
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