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Honolulu Festivals

Snake floats and more
at Honolulu Festival

In the Year of the Snake, it makes sense that a giant hebi matsuri, or snake float, will be among the many colorful displays on view during the Honolulu Festival tomorrow through Sunday.

Major events include the matsuri exhibitions, a Sunday parade, martial arts demonstrations, music, and the presentation of works by local and Japanese hand crafters.

Opening ceremonies are 5 to 7 p.m. tomorrow at Honolulu Hale, with previews of festival events from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Hawai'i Convention Center.

The festival began in 1994 as a free event fostering understanding between the people of Hawaii and visitors from Japan through firsthand experience of the arts and culture of Japan. The schedule follows:

Saturday

Hawai'i Convention Center: Snake float, mikoshi floats, straw rice barrel display, demonstration and audience participation involving balancing rice lanterns on the forehead, martial arts and health demonstrations, local and Japan handcrafters will display their wares, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Ala Moana Center: Cultural entertainment on Center Stage, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Sunday

Kalakaua Avenue, Waikiki: The Grand Parade runs from 5 to 9 p.m., featuring Uozu Tatemon Matsuri, a float shaped like Japan's old fishing boats. Eighty members of the Toyama Prefecture performing group will carry the float comprising more than 90 lanterns that light the way.

Also in the parade, members of the Japanese performing group Akita Kantou Matsuri will balance 46 rice lanterns on bamboo poles on their foreheads and backs, swaying back and forth with the wind's direction.

Members of the Oigami Onsen in Gunma Prefecture will carry a giant snake float, while members of the Aizu Bange Machi from Fukushima Prefecture will show how they have carried on a 400-year tradition of a two-ton straw rice barrel tug-of-war that once involved groups of farmers.

Hawai'i Convention Center: Displays and entertainment continue, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Ala Moana Center: Cultural entertainment , Center Stage, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Call the Honolulu Festival hot line, 564-5355 or visit www.honolulu-festival.org.

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calendars and events.