Hi Steven aka icetea,
Thanks for sharing the pictures.
For those interested, the Wu Wo Tea Ceremony will be held this year in early November (I believe it's from 2-5 Nov) in Wuyi Shan city. This year's organiser will be China, last year was Singapore. I hoped you were in Singapore to feed the mosquitoes? Haha!
Here's my 2-cent worth to Sasha's query:
- I think you may call it a tea society, it is gaining a lot of popularity in Asia, and is spreading to farther shores. Every country has its own variation to the ceremony, but the basic steps are similar, and the philosophy is the same: Sans Moi.
- Without Me is the central philosophy to Wu Wo Cha Hui. The idea is based on Selflessness, to share tea with friends or strangers without restraint, without self-pride. Compared to Gong Fu Cha, it is leaned towards the social gathering to part take the tea, rather than the tea itself - there's no strict artform to observe, rather, one has to observe social grace and good manners during the Wu Wo Cha Hui.
- Interestingly, the Wu Wo Cha Hui is not based on any tea ceremonial structure, but the the easy simplicity of "traveller's tea kit", comprising usually of the these few simple items: a thermo flask to hold hot water, 4 cups, 1 pot, a towel to place the cups and pot, and a sitting mat. Several friends can prepare their own set, and bring along on an outing. When the time comes to sit and relax, the items are rolled out and each person will prepare the tea they have brought with them, then when it is ready, the tea is delivered to the next 4 persons on his or her left, in this manner, each person will have several cups of tea infront of them. The tea is drunk, the cups returned, and the process is repeated.
- The pictures that you see which looked like a seminar, is an exchange of tea art. People from all over the world will bring along their cultural tea artform, or an artform they created, and showcase it on the 2nd nite of the Wu Wo Cha Hui. It is interesting to see all kinds of artform under one roof, and some of them are very entertaining. I recalled one in Japan, where an old lady performed sencha chado. It was a short performance, but her moves entralled the audience that one could hear a pin drop.
Danny