Children make masks for Bok Kai

Tiny fingers, dripping with paint, delicately painted stripes, whiskers and eyelashes on tiger masks Saturday.

In celebration of this year's Chinese Zodiac animal and the upcoming Bok Kai parade, a small group of children attended a mask-making workshop hosted by the Friends for the Preservation of Yuba County History at the Yuba County Library. The second workshop will be next Saturday, so other children can prepare masks and tiger tails to wear in the March 20 parade. It starts at 11 a.m.

Collin Santoyo, 6, and his sister Robyn Santoyo, 5, have attended the mask-making workshop for the last three years. Each child focused intently on their creations as they painted meticulous stripes.

"It's gonna be orange and green," Collin said. "They're tiger colors."

Their mother, Lynda Gulliver-Santoyo, takes the children to the library from Olivehurst so they can enjoy a bit of fun and education.

"Especially in these economic times, you are trying to find fun and inexpensive entertainment for your kids," she said.

They are now old enough to start understanding the cultural significance of the Bok Kai festival and can participate at the same time, Gulliver-Santoyo said.

"And there's a lot of things they are not getting in school like art and music," she said.

Before the children made their masks, they listened to Sue Cejner-Moyers, who shared the tale of the Great Race, when the Jade Emperor, emperor of the heaven, invited all the animals in a kingdom to partake in a race. The first 12 to win would determine which animals would be included and in what order into the Chinese Zodiac calendar.

While Cejner-Moyers told her tale, the children perched in front of the stage and motioned with dragon, rabbit and snake puppets on their hands.

As the story goes, many of the animals fell behind because of hunger or exhaustion, but the rat cheated and won. The ox and tiger were soon to follow, and this year is celebrated as the year of the tiger.

Robert Morris showed his son Matthew, 6, how to paint on eyelashes on his tiger mask, while the boy's sister, Madysun, 8, squeezed drops of food coloring onto a paper tail. Madysun said she loves attending the workshops and thinks learning about the parade is important.

"We are celebrating different countries and they might become friends with you," she said.

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Ashley Gebb at 749-4724 or agebb@appealdemocrat.com.

• WHAT: Bok Kai Parade Mask Making Workshop

• WHEN: 10 a.m. to noon Saturday

• WHERE: Yuba County Library Community Room

• COST: Free and open to children of all ages

• OTHER: Preregistration is suggested, call 749-7380

Other events

• WHAT: Gallery exhibit of art and artifacts of the Bok Kai Temple

• WHEN: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, now through March 19

• WHERE: 624 E St.

• COST: Free

• WHAT: Historical display of photos and materials on Marysville's Chinatown and the dragon

• WHEN: Library hours, March 13-14

• WHERE: Yuba County Library's California Room

• COST: Free