Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1915-07-03
MRS. Dean WICKES ATTENDS BIG
FAIR At Chinese OUTSTATION

, costumes and hideous masks not I'M
like the faces the gods in most or
the tenn. les, and gorgeous head
dresses who. with some others dressed
rot unlike ordinary people, did much
wild dancing, jumping, mock fighting
and acrobatic feSts to the music t?l
CT drums, cymbals, and bones.
The other two were very moral
cne-act plays representing well-Khown
stories or traditions. in which all til IT
was said was sung in falsetto voice,
keyed to the pitch of the twostringed
ffddles and the fife that. with the
bones, formed the accom- ailments
And we could not hear anyway, as
everybody was talking, and half the
children were trying the little green
flutes md the whistles and the trum-
pets that they had bought at the fair.
What action there was was chiefly
inastion, consisting in extremely digni-
fed gettings up and sittings down and
discreet weepings into silken cuffs.
But ii was all great treat to the
Chinese as a change from their brown
md earthly lives i'm the villages, AMI
was their first holiday festival in two
years, as no fair was held last year
Later in tile day two of the Chi
nese women took Miss Leavens and
me out to the. fair again and this time
we went into the temple where the
priest received us cordially and invit-
ed us into his priv tie inner room to
sit down He seems a pleasant man
and / understand that our men have
very pleasant and friendly relations
with him.
"On Tuesday the big crowds came,
for the weather was ideal and it was
the big day of the fair From about
$50 to 400 our court was well filed
with women and girls of all ages, and
generous sprinkling of babies, ex.
eept for an hour or more when they
went out to wait for the passing of
the procession of performing societies:
silt walkers, big headed people
(masks Of counsel, skilful riders on
prarcing paper steeds, etc.
THE societies belong, to some of
the villages about. and after much
practice and many local contests the
most skilful are selected to come and
exhibit at the temples in fair time
The silt walkers, of whom there were
several companies, each dressed to
represent the same 10 or u charac-
tiers in some play or story, were Ger.
tanly very skilful Their stills, fas.
tened to their feet, lifted them up 50
that their HRS were a little above
the heads of the crowd, and one these
they walked and danced and hoped
and did all sorts of difficult things.
"All day we were talking to groups
of women and children that came and
went and shifted continually. When
there seemed mere than the others
could well manage / stepped in and
tried to help. So that much of the
time there were six groups at a time
with whom We were talking. During
the day think l talked with seven
or eight different groups of from halt
dozen to 20 women snd well grown
girls, besides smaller children. Miss
Leayens says there were fewer than
she has had at other times End places,
and that she spoke less than she has
sometimes done, but there were
goodly number reaching up into the
hundreds. Most of them / think had
never been there before, as few of
them ever get away from home ex-
cept On these special and rare occa-
sions and even then not all can
come at once as some must stay at
home to look after young babies or
the household affairs in general if
mother-in-law so DEGREES.
They listened with varying degrees
of interest anc attention. and gained
bits of information as to the family
and personal history of the two for
eigners and as to some foreign man
ners and customs that broadened their
knowledge and experience by that
much, and If some gained no more
than the discovery and that foreign
ers were friendly and not terrifying,
and wished them well, it must have
been worth something to them"