Japanese Doll Festival Celebration

One of the coolest things about working in an international school is, well, the fact that it's international. Even cooler, when you work with little kids, you can party quite a lot. We celebrate major celebrations from each of the kids home countries. We've celebrated many German events, like St. Martin Day and Fasching. We have also celebrated Thanksgiving, Diwali (Indian Festival of Lights,) Santa Lucia (Swedish winter saint's day,) Chinese New Year, and many others.
Yesterday, we were fortunate enough to be able to celebrate Girl's Day, a Japanese holiday also known as the Doll Festival, or Hina Matsuri.
During this time, families bring out very special ceremonial dolls of an ancient emperor and empress. Displaying these dolls is meant to ensure the future happiness of the daughters in the family.
Besides this tradition, many families also make their own dolls from paper. It is thought that their sorrows will transfer to these paper dolls. We helped the kids make their own paper dolls, and we also made ancient Japanese warrior hats with the kids.
All of our celebrations are planned by the parents. They always do a wonderful job, and yesterday's celebration was certainly no exception. I feel so fortunate to be a part of such an amazing international community!