I'm going through a really difficult battle with .... winter hiberation right now. Feeling very good emotionally and physically but slumber calls to me. My body is making me sleep for at least 9 hours. So I find myself short of time to blog, cook or even socialize. Laundry, in my life unfortunately takes precedence.
Anyways, onto more stimulating topics. Sure people are wanting to know whether there is Thanksgiving in Japan. (Thanksgiving in Canada BTW is in October...) Well last Monday was officially Thankful Day, so yeah. It's not a truly established holiday.
At Rio's preschool, (a one teacher, eight kids Japanese Montessori school) the kids used to make forest animal masks and sing a little song. "I'm a little bird, chirp, chirp, chirp. I am grateful for the seeds I get." You get the picture. It's UBER cute when the little ones do it. But then they grow up.
By the third year, Rio is singing, "I'm a big bad wolf. Roar, roar, roar. And I'm thankful for the little birds, and rabbits and squirrel I eat. Ha.ha. ha." The little ones starting to cry. Big philosophical discussion about carnivores, herbivores and vegetarians, etc. In the end, she convinced him to be an eagle (had to be something cool) and eat worms.
In the fall, Japanese preschools are into harvesting which usually means digging for sweet potatoes. Sometimes, we'd go apple and grape picking.
At Rio's preschool, everyone would bring in some vegetables. They would be displayed and then made into a big miso stew called kenchin soup. Lots of vegetables, typically root ones like carrot, sweet potato, potatoes, onions, daikon radish, burdock roots, etc.) Kids just loved doing the cooking. So Thanksgiving in Japan is more about being thankful for good harvest. A long farming history.
Anyways, onto more stimulating topics. Sure people are wanting to know whether there is Thanksgiving in Japan. (Thanksgiving in Canada BTW is in October...) Well last Monday was officially Thankful Day, so yeah. It's not a truly established holiday.
At Rio's preschool, (a one teacher, eight kids Japanese Montessori school) the kids used to make forest animal masks and sing a little song. "I'm a little bird, chirp, chirp, chirp. I am grateful for the seeds I get." You get the picture. It's UBER cute when the little ones do it. But then they grow up.
By the third year, Rio is singing, "I'm a big bad wolf. Roar, roar, roar. And I'm thankful for the little birds, and rabbits and squirrel I eat. Ha.ha. ha." The little ones starting to cry. Big philosophical discussion about carnivores, herbivores and vegetarians, etc. In the end, she convinced him to be an eagle (had to be something cool) and eat worms.
In the fall, Japanese preschools are into harvesting which usually means digging for sweet potatoes. Sometimes, we'd go apple and grape picking.
At Rio's preschool, everyone would bring in some vegetables. They would be displayed and then made into a big miso stew called kenchin soup. Lots of vegetables, typically root ones like carrot, sweet potato, potatoes, onions, daikon radish, burdock roots, etc.) Kids just loved doing the cooking. So Thanksgiving in Japan is more about being thankful for good harvest. A long farming history.
