Which Traditions Are You Celebrating?

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Which Traditions Are You Celebrating?

Living in the Bay Area is like living in a big village. Starting in January 24, 1848, when gold was first discovered at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, California, thousands of people from all over the world rushed to the Port of San Francisco. In addition people born in other parts of the United States and whose ancestors came from Europe, travelled there by land. Thus, the process of the melting pot started almost 168 years ago.

Nevertheless, each group tried to retain its individuality by celebrating specific holidays akin to their background that eventually became the traditions celebrated by many and not only by those who live in San Francisco. The Irish have their Saint Patrick’s Day, the Chinese celebrate the colorful Chinese New Year, Mexicans have Cinco De Mayo, the Japanese have their annual Cherry Blossom festival. Later on, more immigrants started to pour in, including people from different countries in Europe, Africa, Australia and Asia as well as different republics of the former Soviet Union.

Our family is originally from Latvia and we moved to San Francisco in August, 1980. There were also immigrants who came from Mongolia. It started in 1949. By now there are about 5,000 people of Mongolian descent in the State of California, with about 3,000 living in the San Francisco Bay Area. I came across this wonderful ethnic group and met some of them last year while we had an intern working for our company over the summer. Bill is a very smart and capable person. This year he is graduating from college in San Diego. It was thanks to him that I attended the Mongolian Festival in Golden Gate Park for the first time last year, commemorating the national holiday called Naadam. This year Bill’s parents invited me again to join them in the Park. “Naadam” literally translates to “Game”. Part of the celebration is “the three games of men”, which are Mongolian wrestling, horse racing and archery.

This year, the 18th Annual Naadam Festival took place on July 11th and was a very good opportunity for me to meet the people in their national costumes and of course to take photographs. Two of the images are going to be included in my next book “42 Encounters in San Francisco with Couples.” I expect it to be ready by Thanksgiving. Enjoy and Share.

P.S. I am sorry that I can only share four images with you. I did not see any of the three sports mentioned, but there were beautiful dancers and other performers. Check your calendar for next year’s festival. It is worth the visit. No special invitation is needed.

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Cheers,

Manny<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />                                                               Signature