Tag Archives: celebrations
Harmony Day
Peace and Harmony means being friends with everyone. The friends like and play together. In ‘The Peace Book’, the author says: “Peace is being different, feeling good about yourself, and helping others. The world is a better place because of you.”
Because today is Harmony day, we had a special visitor. He bought lots of doves and let them come out. The man was holding one special white dove that we were allowed to touch. Mrs Pericles talked on the microphone. The birds flew away to their home.
The doves were born at the man’s house, he raised them, looked after them, and fed them, so now every time he lets them go, they will come back home. It took 5 weeks to train the doves, and they will live for about 7 years.
This week at school we made some doves too. We painted them orange, blue, purple, red and green. With white paint we did a handprint for their hearts. We used strong glue to put feathers and googly eyes on them!
See what K Swan thought about Harmony Day here.
Shichi-Go-San Festival (Japan)
On November the 15th in Japan, kids have their own festival called Shichi-Go-San which means 7-5-3. Boys who turn 3 or 5, and girls who turn 3 and 7 get to celebrate it.
They have special clothes to wear. Girls wear ‘kimono’, and when they turn 7 they can wear an ‘obi’ (belt). Boys wear ‘hakama’ pants and ‘haori’ jackets. Parents can’t do the dressing themselves because things have to be tied in special ways. Instead, they need a professional dresser.
They have to go the shrine before they celebrate. There are four parts to the day – purification (cleansing), giving an offering, and prayer, then the celebration and feast.
They get given special ‘longevity candy’ (to wish them a long life) called chitose-ame. The packet has a crane, turtle, and old people to show a long life.
Another important part of Shichi-Go-San is that children no longer have to shave their heads. They can let their hair grow!
Happy Easter!
This long weekend is for celebrating Good Friday and Easter. It is the most important celebration in the Christian religion – as well as a tasty one for Christians and non-Christians alike, as we all get lots of chocolate bunnies and eggs!
WHAT CHRISTIANS BELIEVE ABOUT EASTER
Christians believe that on the first Good Friday, Jesus was crucified on the cross, and later buried in a cave. On the following Sunday, the huge stone that blocked the cave entrance had been moved and Jesus’ body was not there, and on that same day and many that followed, Jesus was seen and spoken to, alive and well, except for his wounds from the crucifixion.
It is interesting to note that the date for Easter changes each year, falling anywhere between March 22 and April 25, depending on the cycles of the moon, particularly the dates of the full moon.
INTERESTING PAGES AND ACTIVITIES
- The Royal Easter Show – Find out what’s happening at the show this year, pick your showbags in advance!
- Easter Crafts that you can print and make yourself.
- Games and activities – Egg decorating, dress ups, memory games, quizzes, jigsaws, egg hunts…
- More Easter games – Puzzles, word searches, matching games, and much more