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New Year Celebration, part four
One of my favorite memories of a New Year’s Eve celebration was from the First Night celebration in downtown Salt Lake City. It was an evening filled with a dizzying array of sights and sounds. First Night is a community celebration of the New Year through the arts. It is traditionally family-oriented. It was started in Boston in 1976 and now cities throughout the United States, Canada, New Zealand, England and Australia celebrate their own First Nights. Programs usually consist of outdoor art installations such as ice sculptures, Children’s Festival with giant puppets and colorful banners during the day and an evening full of dance, music, mime, storytelling, theatre, poetry, film, video, multimedia and multicultural programs. It usually concludes with fireworks. I’ll never forget drumming in the New Year with giant steel drums, watching Shakespeare plays, listening to a great variety of music – it was an exquisite experience. I envy those who live in cities with First Night celebrations. To read more about it, visit http://www.firstnightintl.org. Now, if you feel like quiet reflection, I believe writing haiku is the perfect activity. However, with the following event you can participate globally in marking the New Year. The following is an announcement from the World Haiku Club, verbatim. Enjoy the New Year haiku activities and I hope to read some of your haiku. <31/12/2000> New year's Eve REMINDER REMINDER REMINDER REMINDER REMINDER REMINDER REMINDER REMINDER YES, TODAY'S THE DAY! YES, TODAY'S THE DAY! Haiku poems for this KUKAI are already arriving at the haikuforum. Please remember you can post as many haiku poems as you like with your name on so long as you compose them during today for the New Year's Eve Kukai at haikuforum@egroups.com However, please post each one separately for administrative ease (I am filing good ones in the short list folder) and also because I can appreciate a single entry much better than for instance a list of six or ten haiku poems posted together. The theme, "End of the year", is flexible in that you can give it all varieties of interpretation, using your imagination and creative energy, anything ranging from rigid "kigo" definition along the Japanese lines to your personal feelings looking back the entire year in reminiscence. The main thing is for you to enjoy this experience WHILE it is happening. Please also remember two other simultaneous sister events: PHOTO-HAIKU Contest on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day on the Internet http://www2.neweb.ne.jp/wd/photohaiku/in... |
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