A Chinese New Year Parade in Jacksonville, Oregon?
You betcha.
All that and adventurous chickens, too, in this small town.
Home to the first Chinatown in Oregon, Jacksonville has a rich history complete with a gold rush and Chinese immigrants. Coming from the Canton Province in the 1850’s, Chinese emigrants arrived in San Francisco in search of Gold Mountain and a better life. Imagine the stories told in China of the magical Gold Mountain and oh how that mountain glistened with riches from the earth. Free for anyone to take. It must have seemed like an unreal dream. Soon enough that was the true discovery – there is no such thing as a free ticket on the ship to gold mountain. Historian Larry Smith shares his riveting stories of this history. I highly recommend you check out his talks.
As the gold strikes moved north from San Francisco with them came the new migrants. Did they receive a better life in Jacksonville, Oregon? Some did, some did not. One thing seems certain, the Chinese left behind a legacy that to this day is a lasting treasure to the town – an intriguing culture to celebrate.
And this is the reason Jacksonville, Oregon has a Chinese New Year Parade presented by SOCCA (Southern Oregon Chinese Cultural Association). Learn more about the fascinating history and culture from this article written by Jeanena Whitewilson.
Chinese New Year was on February 8, and 2016 is the year of the Fire Monkey according to the Chinese Zodiac. Are you a Fire Monkey? Each year is associated with one of twelve animal signs and one of the five elements. If you want to learn more about your sassy, ambitious, fire monkey self or discover your particular sign, click here. Therapy is also a good option to learning more about yourself, but then again, you don’t get to call yourself a fire monkey in therapy without a DSM IV diagnosis.
Two short Chinese New Year videos for your viewing enjoyment
Vid #1 – 1 minute 30 seconds montage of the photos I took during the parade
Vid #2 – 1 minute 40 seconds video montage highlighting singer Jennifer Matsuura of the Ha’ena Hawaiian Singing Group, the Brava Opera Theatre, and the Southern Oregon Repertory Singers, the Siskiyou Saxophone Orchestra, SOCCA’s Lion Dance Clinic Asian Cultural Dance Troupe, and what I think to be St. Mary’s Lion Dancers, but alas, I am uncertain about that last part. I welcome clarification.
This parade goer intended to film the Southern Oregon Scottish Bagpipe Band, but was unsuccessful in this endeavor. It’s not because I dislike bagpipes. On the contrary, I’m quite fond of them. And I find that bagpipe bands really add a certain je ne sais quoi to a Chinese New Year parade. No, the reason I didn’t film was because my flipvideo flipped out right about the time the bagpipes started piping.
The festivities did not end with the parade. The fun continued on throughout the day with cooking demonstrations, food, history talks, and a magic show and cheeky fire monkeys.
What’s your Chinese Zodiac sign?
Does the description relate to your personality traits? I’m a Fire Horse. Are there any other Fire Horses out there in the vast interweb reading this?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Never give a sword to a man who can’t dance.
~Confucius
To practice five things under all circumstances constitutes perfect virtue; these five are gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness.
~Confucius
The more man meditates upon good thoughts, the better will be his world and the world at large. ~Confucius
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks for reading,
and please subscribe if you want to read more cheeky Fire Monkey posts like this one.
Beautiful celebration, truly is an art form
Well said, Brad! Looks like you’re a local?
There’s still cake though, right?
Welllll, here’s the deal. You can still have your cake. Sadly, you cannot eat it. sorry.
Groundhog Day and Puerto Rico’s full holiday schedule. I will make a cake for every one.
But when pigs fly the turtles will rise up and join forces with those darn robots to take away our balloon rights.
It’s an absolute lose-lose situation. Damn. I guess we better hope that pigs never fly.
Jacksonville looks like a cool town – says the pig (based on the Chinese calendar). To bad it didn’t have a cool element at the beginning like Wind Pig or something.
with wings…
When that happens all things will be possible.
Indeed. Like free water pouring from our faucets whether or not we turn them on. We will laugh and splash and luxuriate soon mocking how it was once a scarce, expensive, necessity. All will be good. Very good.
https://patrickwhitehurst.com/2016/02/04/thoughts-of-thirsty-people-who-did-the-right-thing/
And we will be Zestfully clean – and citizens of the first squirt gun nation perhaps, with contests for best blindfolded stream shooting, and… actually CalAM customers can already do that stuff.
And we will give all the little children water balloons for every single holiday including Groundhog Day and the holidays of Puerto Rico that no one knows about.
With that endeavor we shall combat two issues with one gift – too much water on earth and not enough balloons in the oceans for turtles to suffocate on. Yes. Yes. When pigs fly.