Massive Straw Animal Sculptures Are Displayed On Open Field For Annual Rice Festival

Oct 24, 2019 by apost team

Autumn is an amazing time of year. It brings colder weather, pumpkin spice, changing leaves, and a variety of cultural celebrations to mark the occasion. Harvest festivals, Thanksgiving, and Halloween are just a few examples of ways that people celebrate fall.

People all around the world mark the end of harvest season. They give thanks for the bounty that they've received. In some areas, the celebrations are incredibly inventive and interesting. There are bonfires, parades, and feasts. In other cultures, there are magnificant displays of art.

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Niigata City in Japan is one of these places. It has a unique and artistic way of marking the end of the rice harvest. Rice is a staple for the area. Harvesting it is quite important. The harvest leaves behind a lot of leftover rice straw. The term for this rice straw is "wara," according to Smithsonian Magazine. 

The city has held the Wara Art Festival for more than a decade. It takes place after the fall rice season and makes use of the wara. For the festival, students at Musashino Art University use it to create elaborate straw sculptures.

They aren't ordinary sculptures. These straw sculptures are enormous. Students create lions, gorillas, crocodiles, and more. The only limit is their imagination. Because the sculptures are so large, artists use hard frames to keep them steady according to Smithsonian Magazine. 

What do you think about Niigata's art show? Do you know of other cool harvest celebrations? Tell us your thoughts below. Send this article to your friends and family.