The Ellis Family: What does a city-wide tug of war look like?

I bet you ponder this question all the time. If there was a giant tug of war put on by a whole city, what would it look like? Well, ponder no more. Let me introduce you to the Naha Tug-of-War! The purpose of this festival (everything is a festival here, if you haven't caught on) is to thank the gods for the harvest, pray for rain, and ward of disease. And it is just what you would it is. Huge, Crazy, Fun, Entertaining. Basically they blocked off many blocks of Naha and cranes brought in this giant rope piece, by piece. The rope stretches forever. This is list in the Guinness Book of World Records as the biggest rope-pull event in the world! Once the rope is assembled, they divide the sides. East vs. West. There are people in charge standing on the rope, they yell, and everyone pulls. And I mean everyone. You want to pull? Go right ahead. Fight your way to the rope, grab an end, and pull. But be careful, because this means war and they don't play. Everyone pulls and gets into it. Men, women, children, the old, the young, and even, yes, the pregnant. The pull back and forth for 1/2 an hour, and whichever side moves the most wins (at least that is how I understood it). It was truly a site to see. The is a yearly event, held every October. We didn't go last year, but heard great reviews, so we were excited to go this year.

We took the monorail into Naha. This is the first time we have done this. It gave me flashbacks of MARTA:

Olivia was bored on the monorail, but had the most comfy seat in the house:

This is part of the rope. It branches off so that more people can pull:

This is the main part of the rope. It's HUGE. They remake it every year, winding strand, by strand:

Mommy & Olivia on the big part of the rope:

Touching the rope for good luck! Hopefully our side wins!

Laughing at the chaos:

And they begin! The men on the rope say something like "AAAhhhh-EEEEE-aaaaaa!!" And then crowd shouts the same thing back to him, and then they PULL! I'm assuming it means "pull." Here are Craig and Maddie giving a try at tugging:

Doesn't it just look like a fun event? People actually smile and laugh throughout the tug. I'm going to guess that would not be the case in America...

These boys were really funny. They kept coming up behind me and saying "Hello!" and waving. And then they would try to speak more English. It happens a lot and sometimes I don't realize then are trying to get my attention, so I'm sure they think I'm ignoring them. But this time, I just took their picture and smiled:

See that man? He is the one screaming "AAAAHhhh-EEEE-y-aaaaa!!"

I quickly learned not to get caught up taking pictures while they were pulling, because I got taken away with the crowd and ended up a few blocks away from Mike.