Pre-KG 2023 / 24 Blog 24
O-HINASAMA
Every country has its own customs and traditions and our host country Japan celebrates a charming festival called O-Hinasama on the 3rd of March every year.
The O-Hinasama festival (also called girls or dolls festival in English) dates back to the Heian period when girls were given a set of dolls, the O-Hinasama, representing the emperor and empress and their court. Families pray for their daughters’ health and happiness, hoping that their daughters also will become kind, strong and courteous.
I believe that it is very important to honour one's host country's traditions, especially when the children see the celebration all around them and are very curious about it.
The IB also promotes International-mindedness through the Learner Profile "Open-mindedness" which means while understanding and appreciating your own culture and personal history, you are open to the perspectives, values and traditions of other individuals and communities.
So already starting in STEM week we created some O-Hinasama dolls with recycled bottles in class and then the parents also sent in some handmade dolls from home which showed wonderful creativity.
On Tuesday then we got out our box with the dolls and some big stickers depicting the festival and we started to talk about the people it represented. As the words "Emperor and Empress" were a little bit difficult for the Pre-Kindergarten children to understand, they named them "Prince and Princess".
We then looked at the beautiful handmade dolls that have been handed down from generations and displayed them in the school's entrance for all to admire.
In the classroom every child got their own little set of wooden dolls that had to be assembled and what a fun, but tricky task it was. The children really loved their own set of dolls and were very eager to take it home.
But the children had not forgotten about our other subject "Animals" and looked at many different books featuring animals and fun stories in different settings.
Using magformers they also created a variety of images like towers and star flowers.
During outside discovery time some of our boys checked on our vehicles and did a bit of maintenance!
Yes, it is getting warmer and we went on a walk to admire the first signs of spring, looking at flowers and plum blossoms.
We also visited the Sheraton Hotel where we admired the beautiful display of a multi-tiered O-Hinasama set which was created by famous Kyoto doll craftsmen.
The children really loved the dolls, so we went on a search on Rokko Island to find more of them and - voila, the Rokko Information Center had their own dolls, incredibly dating back to the Edo Period (any time between 1603 and 1867).
We heard that they used to be displayed at a castle, which made the story even more intriguing.
The Doll Festival always features some special food like Chirashi-sushi, Hina Arare or sweet rice crackers, Dango and Sakura Mochi.
So on Friday the Pre-Kindergarten children held a nice O-Hinasama party with yummy snacks. Our friends from K1 had decorated their windows with some O-hinasama posters, but they were on an excursion on Friday and kindly lend us their room, so we brought our dolls and had a party there.
With kind regards,
Mit herzlichen Grüßen,
Anita Ursula Mönch
Pre–Kindergarten homeroom teacher
Playgroup / EY German
German Saturday School homeroom teacher
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