From Jamie's Philippines Pics

We have also had the opportunity to travel to some amazing places in China, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Bali. We have archived all of our travels and living experiences abroad; and if you wish, you can read about our adventures by finding the archives on the right of this page and by checking our Photo Album.

We appreciate all of our family and friends who have stayed in touch and emailed us with encouraging words throughout the year. We hope you will continue to keep us in your thoughts as we continue our adventure of living abroad teaching at an international school. For those who have stumbled upon our site, check out the "About Eric and Jamie" section on the right for more information.

Thanks for checking us out!

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness."
- Mark Twain

"Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends."
- Maya Angelou

Eric
School: ebrown@isgdh.org

Home: ebrown2324@gmail.com

Jamie

School: jbrown@isgdh.org

Home: jkwbrown@gmail.com

Skype: "ericandjamie"


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Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Hinamatsuri - Japanese Doll Festival




Today, Jamie's class was invited by one of her Japanese students' mothers to their house for the celebration of one of Japan's festivals, Hinamatsuri, or the Doll's Festival.

In short, Japanese families celebrate Hinamatsuri for their daughters good fortune and health. It has a long long history, but today is celebrated by individual families as well as a large celebration in many cities. Very interesting reads and I encourage you to take the time and educate yourself on a little history of this event.

Here are some links for you to read up on the celebration

Wikipedia Article - a nice overview

Another Site with some great pictures

About.com Article - another great overview

The picture above is one taken in the home of the students. Her mother explained the celebration and then explained to us what each of the 7 levels meant. I thank her for the photo she emailed to me since I didn't bring my camera. Actually me going was a last minute thing, but I'm very happy I was able to go. If you read the articles, especially the Wikipedia one, it will tell you what all of the dolls mean. Traditionally, the girl's mother's father buys the dolls for her on her 1st Hinamatsuri Day, which is traditionally the 3rd day of the 3rd month (March 3).

The boys then all played a Japanese card game (I don't remember the name) while the girls made origami cranes and roses. She had some sushi prepared and even pizza for backup. She then treated us to a Japanese tea ceremony which was very formal and very interesting.

All of this was in the span of about 1 hour. The kids really enjoyed it and we were all fortunate to take part in such authentic Japanese culture.

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