W&L Chanoyu Tea Society to Host Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Tea W&L's Chanoyu Tea Society will host their second annual Martin Luther King, Jr. tea ceremony on Jan. 15

By Erica Turman
December 12, 2017

“The tea ceremony is very much an art dedicated to finding peace within, reflecting on the here and now and enjoying time together with friends.”

Washington and Lee University’s Chanoyu Tea Society will host their second annual Martin Luther King Jr. tea ceremony on Jan. 15 in the Senshin’an Tea Room, Watson Pavilion.

The tea ceremony will include seatings at 1 p.m., 1:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. The ceremony is free and open to the public.

Free tickets for each seating will be available starting Jan. 2 and must be picked up at the Reeves Center between 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Seats are limited.

Students will be serving traditional Japanese sweets and making tea using the open hearth in the tearoom. The scroll for this special occasion has the character for “Dream,” which will be the group’s unifying theme.

“We started the MLK tea last year as a way to celebrate the university holiday in a meaningful way and not simply to see it as a day to catch up with work or take a day away from campus,” said Janet Ikeda, associate professor of Japanese. “The tea ceremony is very much an art dedicated to finding peace within, reflecting on the here and now and enjoying time together with friends.”

Chanoyu Tea Society is a student organization consisting of students who express an interest in the art of the Japanese tea ceremony and wish to pursue their study of the ceremony in the Senshin’an (Clearing-the-Mind Abode) Tea Room.

The group aims to increase exposure of the Japanese tea ceremony and Japanese culture to the W&L community and the surrounding area by hosting public tea demonstrations.

For tickets contact Cassie Ivey at 540-458-8034 or reevescenter@wlu.edu.