Pinoys in ‘Blossoms’ fest

April 17, 2008  --  Got something to say?
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Text & photo by Rodney J. Jaleco
WASHINGTON D.C. - Filipino Americans participated in the Cherry Blossoms parade along Constitution Avenue April 12 and in the international cultural presentations around the tidal basin on April 13. The international cultural presentations included sunset “lantern walks” around the Tidal Basin, boat tours along the Potomac River, and demonstrations of Japanese 18th century woodcut techniques and exhibit of Japanese Edo-era paintings at the nearby Smithsonian museums.
Grace Valera-Jaramillo of the Migrant Heritage Commission (MHC) said they are participating in the parade, to showcase traditional Philippine dance like the “tinikling” and “pandango sa ilaw”.
At the opening of the festival March, Filipino Americans Toto and Maribel Tijing drove all the way from Columbia, South Carolina in time to see the start of the festival.
The Philippine contingent in the Tidal Basin cultural stage at 2:45 p.m. April 13 were the Migrant Heritage Commission’s Filam Heritage Dance Ensemble, ISA’s 2007 Miss Teen Philippines USA, and Ultimate Eskrima International.
“We’re here every year but this is the first time that we’re here for the cherry blossom and kite festival,” Maribel tells ABS-CBN’s Balitang America and the Manila Mail.
The festival commemorates Tokyo’s gift of 3,000 cherry trees to Washington DC in 1912. First Lady Helen Taft planted the first trees around the Tidal Basin near the Jefferson Memorial. The first festival was held in 1935.
The delicate flower, which blooms for only a few days a year, has come to stand for feminine beauty in Japan. Here, they’re a sure sign that spring has sprung and with it, the horde of tourists from all over the world. By the time the festival wraps up after two weeks, over a million people would have seen the blooms or joined the dozens of parades, concerts, fireworks show and other activities that animate the festival.
“It’s so relaxing,” Teresa Cruz of Springfield, Virginia enthused. “It’s fun, just taking your family here, being with friends for a picnic. And it’s very good for the children,” she added.
The pleasant weather helped draw the crowds this weekend. Balitang America caught up with Philippine Navy Cmdr. Sam Felix, here for a six-month counter-terrorism course at the War College, struggling to navigate through the thick crowd, family in tow. “Too many people,” he remarked with a smile.
There were so many visitors that they clogged up traffic and commuter train stations around the D.C. parks.
But the Pinoy visitors came early and managed to find a parking spot, about half a mile away.
While the women ogled the cherry blossoms, the men instructed the kids on the finer points of kite flying. Larry Mercado, a former sales supervisor for Coca-Cola in Southern Luzon, reminisced about his own boyhood growing up in Kalookan City.
“We used to play dogfights but here the kites are different, they’re more complicated,” he says while trying to unravel the strings of his glider kite.
Boyet Cruz, who works in the finance department of the Swaziland Embassy in the District, lamented how kites here are mostly bought off the shelf. Mercado chimes in, “Back home all we needed was Japanese paper and bamboo slivers. Bamboo is too expensive here.”
The festival lasts until April 13. The activities include international cultural presentations, including some from the Philippines, sunset “lantern walks” around the Tidal Basin, boat tours along the Potomac River, and demonstrations of Japanese 18th century woodcut techniques and exhibit of Japanese Edo-era paintings at the nearby Smithsonian museums.


Posted by News Team | Filed Under Around DC, US News 

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