Holidays and festivals
Striving to maintain normal lives, Japanese Americans held holiday celebrations and festivals inside the concentration camps. Whether decorating mess halls during the Christmas holiday as part of a camp-wide competition or participating in parades to celebrate the harvest of crops from their own gardens, the Japanese Americans demonstrated their resourcefulness and resilience.
World War II
(229)
Concentration camps
(1422)
Holidays and festivals
(267)
267 items
267 items
![[Carp banner (Koinobori) and Boys Day]: Japanese holidays (ddr-csujad-2-62)](https://ddr.densho.org/media/cache/07/b9/07b9a6e1b204f170e925cb55e15193ec.jpg)
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[Carp banner (Koinobori) and Boys Day]: Japanese holidays (ddr-csujad-2-62)
Report on the history and culture of "Boys' Day," a Japanese holiday practiced on May 5. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: sjs_sch_0062
![Christmas card from Emma Hesse to Mr. and Mrs. Henry [Katsumi] Fujita, December 21, 1941 (ddr-csujad-23-12)](https://ddr.densho.org/media/cache/a2/d7/a2d73072c48b196c556fa78b03001bff.jpg)
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Christmas card from Emma Hesse to Mr. and Mrs. Henry [Katsumi] Fujita, December 21, 1941 (ddr-csujad-23-12)
Card depicts winter scene with snow and people walking down a path. Message from Emma Hesse states: "I pray for you, and ask that all kindness and understanding surround you these days." Object includes envelope showing address in Petaluma, California. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: lp028-08-012

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Personality cards (ddr-csujad-26-43)
Journal entries written by high school students discussing their observations and perspectives on a variety of topics including family interactions, memories, homesickness, friendships, social interactions, school, self-reflection, juvenile delinquency, peer behaviors, death, religion, opinions, and worldviews. Each entry includes the full date and student name. The entries were part of a class assignment and collected for …

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Tule Lake recreation center community affairs report for the period August 20, 1942 to September 20, 1942 (ddr-csujad-26-11)
Summary of community youth recreation activities at Tule Lake before school began including descriptions of administration, leadership and training, the "Community Activities Commission," advisory board, planning board, staff, organization, and activities. Report compiled as a portion of the Japanese American Evacuation and Resettlement Study (JERS). See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization …

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Toshio Oku photo album (ddr-csujad-3-22)
Photo album is a collection of landscape and panoramic photos of Tule Lake incarceration camp, holiday greeting cards, photos of a fire, graduation portrait of Toshio Oku, group photo of the Electrical Department, and inside the print shop of the Newell Star. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: tos_01_001_023

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Holiday greeting card (ddr-csujad-3-19)
Christmas card featuring Santa Claus presenting an aerial photo of the Tule Lake incarceration camp showing buildings, a train, and the surrounding landscape. Card reads "Season's greetings." See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: tos_01_001_020

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Holiday greeting card (ddr-csujad-3-17)
Christmas card of Santa Claus presenting a landscape photo of the Tule Lake incarceration camp featuring a barbed wire fence, snow covered path to a gate leading outside camp to a railroad crossing, and a hillside. Card reads "Season's greetings." See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: tos_01_001_018

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Holiday greeting card (ddr-csujad-3-16)
Christmas card of Santa Claus presenting a photo of the Tule Lake incarceration camp featuring a barbed wire fence, what appears to be a section of a guard tower, and a distant hillside. Card reads "Season's greetings." See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: tos_01_001_017

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Holiday greeting card (ddr-csujad-3-15)
Christmas card of Santa Claus presenting a photo of the Tule Lake incarceration camp featuring buildings, fencing, a snowy road, and vehicles. Card reads "Season's greetings." See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: tos_01_001_016

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Holiday greeting card (ddr-csujad-3-18)
Christmas card featuring Santa Claus presenting a landscape photo of the Tule Lake incarceration camp from outside a barbed wire fence looking in on buildings in camp with a hill in the distance. Card reads "Season's greetings." See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: tos_01_001_019

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Holiday greeting card (ddr-csujad-3-14)
Christmas greeting card featuring Santa Claus presenting a photo of the Tule Lake incarceration camp buildings and landscape from what appears to be a guard tower. Card reads "Season's greetings." See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: tos_01_001_015

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Young child in front of Christmas tree (ddr-csujad-37-15)
Photograph of a young child in front of a Christmas tree inside of the barracks building at the Heart Mountain camp, Wyoming. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: mhf_015_01

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Xmas (ddr-csujad-38-280)
Photographed are young children incarcerated at the Jerome camp in Arkansas. It was taken during a Christmas event. The caption reads: Xmas, 1942, Denson, Arkansas. Title from caption. The handwritten note on the back side reads: Christmas day, Dec. 25, 1942. The photo was sent from Sally Sakaye Sasaki at the Jerome camp to Mitzi Masukawa …

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Holiday greetings (ddr-csujad-38-19)
A holiday greeting card made by George Nobuo Naohara and his friends in the Jerome camp in Arkansas. An item from "George Naohara photo album" (csudh_nao_0001), page 3. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: nao_01_03_002

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Letter from Shoichi Nomura to Parslery, December 26, 1943 (ddr-csujad-45-91)
A letter from Snoichi Nomura to Parslery thanking her for the Christmas gift. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: HMRC_01-06_001

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Photograph of making mochi in a mess hall at Manzanar (ddr-csujad-47-77)
Photograph of women preparing mochi spheres in a mess hall at Manzanar incarceration camp. A group of women stand around a table separating and rolling the mochi into spheres with confectioners sugar. A child being held on the right side has streaks of the sugar on their cheek. Already prepared food can be seen on every …

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Obon, Rohwer, Arkansas (ddr-csujad-5-339)
Photographed are Akiko An and Kiku Tanimoto, Ayame May Okine, and Dorothy Ai Okine. It is taken during the obon event in the Rohwer incarceration camp. The handwritten notes on the backside read: Obon, Rohwer, Arkansas. A photograph from "Dorothy Ai Aoki photo album" (csudh_oki_0300), page 11. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese …

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1943 Christmas greetings (ddr-csujad-55-1463)
Program for a Christmas pageant at the Protestant Church at Crystal City Department of Justice Internment Camp. From the Mary F. Clark scrapbook, "Before I Forget, 1942-1947," page 111. See also sac_jaac_1334 through sac_jaac_1529. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: sac_jaac_1465

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Weinachts programm 1944 Internierungslager Crystal City, Texas (ddr-csujad-55-1481)
Program for a German Christmas Eve celebration at Crystal City Department of Justice Internment Camp. From the Mary F. Clark scrapbook, "Before I Forget, 1942-1947," page 124. See also sac_jaac_1334 through sac_jaac_1529. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: sac_jaac_1483

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Minutes from the Heart Mountain Community Council meeting, October 26, 1943 (ddr-csujad-55-484)
Minutes from the Heart Mountain Community Council meeting. Includes discussion on Christmas, "evacuee doctors", and camp operations and services. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: sac_jaac_0486

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Minutes from the Heart Mountain Block Chairmen meeting, December 21, 1942 (ddr-csujad-55-384)
Minutes from the Heart Mountain Block Chairmen meeting. Includes discussion on Christmas meal, cooks wages, and retirement. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: sac_jaac_0386

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Minutes from the Heart Mountain Block Chairmen meeting, December 22, 1942 (ddr-csujad-55-386)
Minutes from the Heart Mountain Block Chairmen meeting. Includes discussion on recreation conference, Christmas meal, and New Year entertainment. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: sac_jaac_0388

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Letter from Tomiye to Miss Mary Clark, November 3, 1944 (ddr-csujad-55-1457)
Scrapbook page containing a note regarding a request for a crutch and a Boy Scouts program. From the Mary F. Clark scrapbook, "Before I Forget, 1942-1947," page 106. See also sac_jaac_1334 through sac_jaac_1529. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: sac_jaac_1459

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Poem from German internee at Crystal City Department of Justice Internment Camp (ddr-csujad-55-1386)
Poem written by a German internee given as a gift to Mary Clark, originally accompanied by a bottle of perfume. From the Mary F. Clark scrapbook, "Before I Forget, 1942-1947," page 56. See also sac_jaac_1334 through sac_jaac_1529. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: sac_jaac_1388

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Carnival compliments of the silk screen shop (ddr-csujad-55-1319)
Souvenir tag for "Carnival" at Granada incarceration camp depicting a cowboy cartoon figure. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: sac_jaac_1321