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Event Description
Spirit of Beacon Day - River Festival
Like a tradition, the Beacon Festival "One River, Many Streams Folk Festival" parade was rolled out onto the main street of the city of Beacon by colorfully decorated locals and ethnically distinguished marchers. The event organized by AMH (the Arts Mid-Hudson) has fortunately taken place on a sunny weekend every year. It was again held under a sunny fall day, on September 24.
Volunteers from MHJCA worked hard but enjoyed helping visitors under the tent throughout the afternoon. Our table offered an Origami Workshop with models ranging from jumping frogs, cube boxes, KAZAGURUMA (pinwheels), and floral decorations for hair.
It looked promising to see the participating children's future from their serious, painstaking attentions to their Origami folding efforts. A 5 year old child spent more than an hour to learn a craft to complete the project. The attitude was inspiring even to a grown up like me.
Japanese Origami history is dated back 600 years ago as a ceremonial art work, and matured into a form of paper craft and toy games. Now it's well known worldwide as a Japanese tradition. Because artistic crafting involves making a 3D object from a flat, colorful piece of paper, it's been adopted for therapeutic applications. Also because of the geometric characteristics of Origami making, the crafting is offered as a material for math and engineering classes.
I am not surprised to find if MHJCA offers Origami Workshop at a regular program someday. The event was successfully held for two hours with great satisfaction. Thank you for volunteering, MHJCA members!
Chikako Mori
Event Leader
English Translation by Lily Kershner
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