2012 - Year of the Dragon
Drawing by JALA PRENDES

Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu!  Happy New Year!

While Christmas is one of the biggest annual events in North America & Europe, Japan on the other hand, celebrates Oshogatsu, the start of the new year.  The holiday, observed the first three days in January, is a time traditionally spent as a family, when homes are cleansed & purified before the year’s end then decorated with pine, bamboo, sacred straw chains, and oval shaped rice cakes.

Celebrate the year of the Dragon at the Morikami Museum & Japanese Gardens on January 8th.  The day’s activities will feature games and entertainment throughout the museum and gardens such as:

  • Sado tea ceremony
  • Kakizome, experience hands-on the first calligraphy of the new year
  • Omikuju, Japanese fortune telling
  • Mochitsuki, the pounding of rice and making of mochi, auspicious Japanese cakes
  • Shishimai, meet the lion dancer as he brings in the New Year to the beat of the taiko drum!
  • Hanetsuki, similar to badminton
  • Fukuwarai, the Goddess of Happiness game
  • Daruma Otoshi, wood block game
  • Hands-on craft activities & bounce-houses
  • Japanese & American food favorites & the Kirin Beer Garden

Regular admission is $10 adults, $5 children (ages 4 – 17).  Admission is FREE for museum members and children 3 and under.

SAVE by purchasing tickets early online at www.morikami.org/newyear. $8 for adults & $4 for kids. Online ticket sales end Friday, January 6.

Click here for a chance to win FREE tickets.