Spring is a time for new life. Japan demonstrates this through their Hanami festival and their story of Amaterasu and Ame-No-Uzume. Hanami Hanami in Japan is a festival celebrating the blooming of cherry blossoms, harkening the arrival of spring. The festival is a time for people to assemble and picnic under the trees. They eat wagashi, traditional Japanese sweets. Some of these sweets are Daifuku, which is made from sweet rice flour that surrounds red bean paste, and Yokan, a jellied confectionery made from red or white beans, sugar, and agar, which is a type of gelatin. A traditional beverage is Sakura tea, which is tea made from cherry blossoms. Seasonally decorated teaware is also used. The festivities usually last all day and into the night. The festival dates vary by location and year because the trees blossom at different rates. Ueno Park and Yoyogi Park in Tokyo are popular spots for cherry blossom viewing. Washington D.C. is also famous for its cherry blossom festivities. Here is a link to the National Park Service’s page on cherry blossom festivals: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/cherryblossom/index.htm Ever since the Heian Period, which lasted from 794-1185, the aristocracy has given parties to view blossoming flowers. In the Azuchi Momoyama Period, which lasted from 1568-1600, viewing parties spread in popularity to the remaining population. Short plays were performed, and women would wear brightly colored kimonos. With the dawn of the age of technology, “Sakura Forecasts” were broadcasted online and on television. Today, pink dots cover maps of Japan showing where the Cherry Blossoms are. These forecasts are usually followed by information on finding the best viewing points, the areas where the seasons have finished, and where the seasons have begun. Amaterasu and Ame-no-Uzume Ame-no-Uzume or Uzume is the Shinto goddess of joy, happiness, and good health. She danced to bring the goddess of the sun, Amaterasu, back from where she was grieving. Amaterasu was hiding because her brutish brother grew jealous of her beauty and popularity and went on a rampage, killing one of Amaterasu’s sacred animals. Amaterasu felt so violated and betrayed that she ran away and hid. However, Uzume’s dancing filled Amaterasu with revelry and good humor, dissipating her grief and ensuring the return of spring and sunshine bringing life and fertility. This myth is said to be symbolism for the return of spring after a long, cold winter. Conclusion Hanami is the Japanese festival thrown for the blossoming of cherry trees. Families and friends gather underneath the beautiful flowers to enjoy the sights and the companionship. They eat traditional Japanese wagashi and drink tea made from cherry blossoms. One of the traditional stories told in Japan is that of Uzume and Amaterasu. Uzume danced to bring Amaterasu out from grieving. This story is symbolism for the return of spring, sunshine, and life. I highly encourage checking out cherry blossom festivals. Who knows, you might have one near you!
Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists
From Rags to Blankets: The Life Cycle of Clothes
Have you ever wondered about the clothes you wear? Where they come from and what happens to them when you no longer need them? Recently, I got very interested in learning more about clothes. It all started when I went with my mother to a clothing donation box in the parking lot of a small mall near our home. Every few months, she collects all our unwanted clothes in a bag and drops them off into a big box. During this trip, for the first time, I wondered what happens to all the clothes that are deposited into the box. I asked a lot of questions and found many interesting answers. Read on to find out more about the life cycle of clothes and why unwanted clothes never belong in the trash! Clothes are made from two main sources: natural and artificial. Natural sources are plant fibers like cotton, jute, bamboo, and rubber. Animal sources include silk, hide, wool, feathers and fur. Human researchers have also invented fibers such as nylon and polyester using chemicals in the lab. These are artificial fibers and are often used to make light, waterproof clothing such as sportswear and bathing suits. All these fibers require plenty of water, land and other natural resources to make. Clothing is usually made in developing countries because it is cheaper to make them there. Once the clothes are made, they get shipped to all over the world. This is how clothes get to stores near you! Once you buy a piece of clothing, several things to happen to it: ● You may not like it ● It could become well worn and even raggedy ● You could outgrow it ● It could get out of season, for example, shorts in winter and jackets in summer. ● You wash it the wrong way and it shrinks! Once you no longer need a piece of clothing: ● If it is in a good condition, it could be handed down ● You could drop it off in a donation or charity box ● You could sell it at a second-hand store ● You could throw it in the garbage can Every year, each one of us throws about 70 lbs of clothing in the trash. One pound is equal to about three tee-shirts, nine pieces of kids clothes, and one pair of shoes. These trashed clothes end up in the landfill which is a large area where the trash in buried. By throwing old clothes in the trash, it pollutes the environment and it is a waste of natural resources that went into making them. So, it is better to recycle clothes, even if they are torn and raggedy. But when we think of recycling we only think of bottles, paper and cans. Not clothes! Clothes cannot even be thrown in the regular recycling bin! So, what do we do? Even with our clothes we can practice “reduce, reuse, recycle.” If clothes become too worn out to be handed down or sold, they can get dropped off at a donation box. Companies that recycle clothes provide these boxes at many convenient locations such as parking lots, malls etc. From here, the clothes get sorted according to their condition. Many clothes are sold back to developing countries. A city called Panipat in India in nicknamed “cast-off capital” of the world. In these places: ● Ships and trucks bring in recycled clothes from all over the world ● They are sorted into reds, blues, greens and blacks, and also according to their fiber ● Workers remove zippers, buttons and bales with small knives ● Machines shred the clothes into smaller pieces and remove the fibers to make yarn. Some of the pieces are used to stuff couches and cushions. ● The yarn is used to make blankets that are sold at a very low cost. After big disasters like tsunami, earthquake or hurricane, families lose everything of theirs. These blankets are given to keep them safe and warm. This is a much better use of our torn clothes. Now, I have learned that the life cycle of clothes does not end in a trash can. It can continue to live as a warm blanket for someone in a faraway place who has lost everything. So next time I buy a new piece of clothing, I will first ask myself if it looks good on me. Then, “how can I make it look good on my planet?” This is called sustainability and we can do this as kids too!
Writing Activity: Using the power of “show, don’t tell”
Writers often hear the advice: “show, don’t tell.” But what does it mean? Read and study a story from the Stone Soup archives to see the power of this technique, and then try it for yourself. Activity Eleven-year-old Ari Rubin’s story, “Lindy,” was first published in Stone Soup magazine in 1993, and it has been included in all the editions of our anthology, the Stone Soup Book of Friendship Stories, since then. To prepare for this activity, read “Lindy.” Consider the way that the story unfolds. You’ll notice that the whole story is “told” to us by a strong narrator’s voice. But he doesn’t explicitly tell us the real story underneath the story. He shows us the various events as they happened to him, so that—like him—we don’t understand Lindy’s bigger story until the very end. Then, we notice all the hints dropped along the way. We see the journey the narrator has been on, and how he got to where he is now in terms of his feelings about Lindy. This approach makes you want to read the story again. And then you see that the clues were there all along, cleverly laced in to the narrative. In “Lindy” the author brilliantly controls what he shows us, what he tells us, how, and when. This mastery of the content makes a complex emotional tale come across in an authentic voice that sounds simple and matter-of-fact. The author demonstrates how much more powerful it can be to reveal things to the reader through action and dialogue, instead of listing and explaining all the underlying thoughts and feelings in the order they happen. Read “Lindy” again with a pencil in your hand, and mark the points in the story where something happens, or a clue is dropped, that you only recognised as a clue when you read the story the second time. Now, take a look at one of your story ideas; one that you have developed enough that you know everything about your characters, where they are going in the story, and what happens in the end. Think about when you want the reader to know all those things. Think about how you might structure your story and what clues you might be able to give along the way, and where you might drop those hints. Try to identify the crucial events or moments in the story that relate to the ending, and think about what might your characters do or say or observe at those points, without the words that literally tell us ever coming out of their mouths. How can you give your readers just enough information to mean that the truth revealed right at the end has been signposted, but never explicitly given away, in the course of the story?
