Rituals & Celebrations

For more than a thousand years Indonesians have used wayang theater as a method of addressing the conundrums of life. The lively puppet traditions of South and Southeast Asia have portrayed epic stories that shrank the cosmos down to a miniature world. The vast expanse of the earth could symbolically be reduced to the few feet of a puppet stage. The puppeteer’s lamp became the sun, throwing light on myriad creatures who, in their nobility or baseness, make up the world.

Students will create their own books and stamps, and can inscribe poetry or good wishes on each others books. They will then take their books with them on a pilgrimage to the Asian Art Museum, the Japanese tea garden, or the beach, and record their impressions.

Students will: 1.) analyze the role of the puppet master (dalang) in Indonesian rod puppet theater (wayang golek). 2.) Read a summary of the Ramayana or a scene from this Hindu epic. 3.) Identify the different puppet character types. 4.) construct a rod puppet of a character from the Ramayana or the Mahabharata.

In Tibet, religious paintings come in several forms, including wall paintings, thangkas (sacred pictures that can be rolled up), and miniatures for ritual purposes or for placement in household shrines.

Asian Art Museum storyteller Miriam Mills tells a New Year story from Vietnam in the Southeast Asian galleries of the Asian Art Museum.

Lesson on the individual rituals performed by Muslim pilgrims during the hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca.

Learn how to make a Parol, a star-shaped Christmas lantern from the Philippines.

Jaesup Pak, professor of Korean language and literature at Inje University in Korea, and Tea Master Youngmi Yi introduce cha (tea) and darye (etiquette for tea). Tea was introduced to Korea from China sometime in the 6th or 7th centuries, and since then Koreans have developed an approach to tea with fewer formal rituals and greater range of flexibility in enjoyment of tea. In Korea, tea has always been more than just a simple beverage. Appreciation of music, poetry, dance, and painting prospered as part of tea ceremonies among the elite and the royal court.

This video documents the creation of a Buddhist painting by the monk artist, Seol-min (formerly known as Jae-u), who has dedicated her life to keeping the tradition of Buddhist painting alive.

Learn about Indonesian rod puppets (wayang golek) with puppet master Kathy Foley.