January 2-3, 2019
Happy New Year!
On the first day of school, the children shared stories about their wonderful holidays. They talked about what Santa brought them, what they gave their families, special experiences they had with their families and how beautiful the Christmas decorations were. Obviously, they had a most wonderful time in 2018 and the last couple of weeks ended the year with joy.
Back in my home country Japan, the biggest holiday is new years(January 1st). Japanese people have various decorations as part of the celebration. I introduced the children to some Japanese traditional decorations. The children studied the pictures, listened to my explanations with curiosity.
"Kado-matsu"
A pair of decoration for entrances of houses made of mainly bamboo and pine. They are an invitation for new year spirits which come down from the sky and bring us happiness.
"Shime-nawa"
Also a decoration for entrances. It is made of a straw rope and fern leaves and a bitter orange. It keeps good spirits in our house and keeps out bad spirits.
How do you make a rope with straws?
I want it to protect my house from bad spirits.
"Kagami-mochi"
An offering to the good spirits made of two round rice cakes and a bitter orange.
Do the spirits take a bite as Santa does?
There are various cultures in the world and each culture has various decorations. The children enjoyed knowing that and comparing with their cultures. The families and teachers in Creative Minds are multicultural. Doesn't it sound fun to study beauties of different cultures?
Comments
Post a Comment