White Day 🤍
Hello Mito Amity students and family! ฅ(•ㅅ•❀)ฅ
Thank you for reading last week's post about Saint Patrick's Day! This week, we will be discussing the holiday of the hour: White Day!
White Day (3/14) is the opposite of Valentine's Day (2/14). On Valentine's Day, women gave the special men in their life chocolate. White Day was invented in Japan for men to reciprocate the gifts they had received. While Valentine's Day is holiday from abroad, White Day is a purely Japanese creation.
A company making marshmallows launched a campaign in 1965 urging men to repay their Valentine gifts with soft, fluffy marshmallows. The name 'White Day' comes from the color of the candy, and at first it was called 'Marshmallow Day'.
Soon after, chocolatiers began marketing white chocolates, and other candy makers jumped on the trend as well. Gradually, the original association with marshmallows disappeared. Today, men give the special women in their lives a variety of different gifts, whether for their honmei (true sweethearts) or to fulfill their giri (obligation) to classmates or colleagues.
Will you be giving or receiving any White Day gifts this year? Let us know in your next Amity lesson!
Sincerely,
Your English Teachers at Mito Amity ヽ(≧◡≦)八(o^ ^o)ノ
Saint Patrick's Day🍀
Hello Mito Amity students and family! ٩(◕‿◕｡)۶
I hope everyone enjoyed learning about Girl's Day last week! Today, we will be talking about a holiday that is widely known in Western countries: Saint Patrick's Day!
Saint Patrick’s Day is a popular holiday celebrated every March 17. Saint Patrick’s Day is a national holiday in Ireland but people in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and many other countries that have communities of Irish diaspora enjoy this holiday as well.
Saint Patrick was born in Britain in the late 300s or early 400s. Pirates captured him when he was 16 years old and sold him as a slave in Ireland. He worked as a shepherd for six years before escaping and returning home. After years of religious training, Patrick went back to Ireland. He converted many people to Christianity. St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on the day Patrick supposedly died.
Many people celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day by wearing green. That means that they wear green clothing or keep shamrocks (three-leafed clovers) on them. Green and shamrocks are symbols of Ireland.
However, the color theme of St. Patrick’s Day was originally blue! Green was finally introduced to St. Patrick’s Day festivities in the 18th century, when the green shamrock became a national symbol.
Green is also the color that mythical fairies called leprechauns like to dress in. Leprechauns are actually one reason you are supposed to wear green on St. Patrick’s Day—or else you will risk getting pinched! The tradition is tied to folklore that says wearing green makes you invisible to leprechauns, who like to pinch anyone they can see. Some people also think sporting the color will bring good luck, and others wear it to honor their Irish ancestry. Green decorations can be seen all over to celebrate the holiday.
Many cities with large Irish populations have huge public celebrations. Boston held its first Saint Patrick’s Day celebration in 1737. In the 1760s, New York City began the tradition of holding a parade for the occasion. Chicago dyes its river green for Saint Patrick’s Day every year.
Are you going to wear green for Saint Patrick’s Day this year? Let us know in your next Amity lesson!
Sincerely,
Your English Teachers at Mito Amity ｡ﾟ( ﾟ^∀^ﾟ)ﾟ｡
Girl's Day / The Doll Festival 🎎
Hello Mito Amity students and family! ૮ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ა
I hope everyone enjoyed their day off on the Emperor's birthday last week! Today, we will be talking about Girl's Day or The Doll Festival.
Girls' Day is also known as The Doll Festival or Hina Matsuri. This is a Japanese celebration dedicated to girls, during which parents pray for the good health and happiness of their daughters. This holiday also corresponds to the time when peach blossoms start to bloom, so the celebration is also called The Peach Blossom Festival or Momo no Sekku. It is one of Japan’s five seasonal festivities or sekku. Day one of the first month, day three of the third month, day five of the fifth month, and so on, are all sekku celebrations. Hina Matsuri, the third sekku festival, is held every year on March 3.
While customs for this holiday differ depending on the region of Japan, there is one thing in common: this festival is held to celebrate daughters! Starting weeks before the festival, families display dolls on a tiered stand called a hinadan. Hina dolls are typically a gift from a girl’s grandparents for her first Hina Matsuri, or she may receive a set that has been passed down in her family. The dolls are beautifully detailed and represent the royal court. The stand may have 5 or 7 tiers, with the top tier reserved for the Emperor and Empress, followed by guardians, musicians, and servants. The display also includes small meal dishes, small furniture pieces like chests and stands, and fresh peach blossoms.
This custom with dolls started in the Heian Period (794 to 1185) when people held a similar event to pray for good fortune. People would put straw/paper dolls on rafts and push them down the river, believing that the dolls would drive off evil spirits or calamities. People began displaying these dolls in their homes during the Edo Period (1603 to 1868).
Then in the 1600s, Princess Okiko, daughter of Emperor Go-Mizuno, decided to play with a doll display created specifically for her. The custom evolved into presenting the dolls on platforms draped with a crimson-colored fabric. Soon after that, Princess Okiko became Empress Meisho and she promoted Hina Matsuri when she ascended to the throne in 1687. Craftsmen all around Japan have been making Hina dolls for the event since then, and the tradition remains today.
Do you celebrate Girl's Day? Let us know in your next Amity lesson!
Sincerely,
Your English Teachers at Mito Amity ૮₍ ˶• ༝ •˶ ₎ა
The Emperor’s Birthday 🎉
Hello Mito Amity students and family! (✧ω✧)
I hope everyone enjoyed learning about the history of Valentine’s Day last week. This week, we have a Japanese national holiday coming up on Sunday February 23rd: The Emperor`s Birthday (天皇誕生). The birthday of the current emperor is always a national holiday. If the emperor changes, the national holiday changes to the birthday date of the new emperor. Even though this unique holiday only became official in 1948, the tradition of celebrating the Emperor’s birthday dates back to the 8th century. This means that this custom has been around for over 1,200 years! In the past, this holiday was known as 天長節 (てんちょうせつ). You can still use this term today, but it is less common.
Although there is no work or school on this day, most people do not do anything special. It is just a regular public holiday. There is one major event! There is a general public greeting at the Imperial Palace. At this event, the Emperor makes a public appearance and gives a speech. This offers people the rare chance of seeing the Emperor in person.
How will you spend this holiday? Let us know in your next Amity lesson!
Sincerely,
Your English Teachers at Mito Amity (╯✧▽✧)╯
Happy Valentine’s Day 💌
Hello Mito Amity students and family! ٩(♡ε♡)۶
Today is Valentine’s Day, a loving holiday with lots of history. Valentine’s Day is named after Saint Valentine, a Roman Catholic priest who helped couples secretly get married.
Emperor Claudius II of Rome—who reigned from the years 268 C.E to 270 C.E.— banned marriage because he thought unmarried men made better soldiers. Saint Valentine thought this was unfair and decided to break the rules and perform marriages anyway. He kept the ceremonies quiet, but he was eventually caught. He was later killed on February 14 of the year 270 for defying the emperor. Right before he died, Valentine supposedly wrote the first-ever “valentine” to his jailer’s daughter, with whom he had fallen in love with. Later, in the 5th century, Pope Gelasius I declared the day of his death as St. Valentine’s Day. The Catholic Church doesn’t recognize St. Valentine’s Day on its calendar anymore, but people throughout the world still celebrate this day.
There were actually celebrations surrounding this day even before Saint Valentine! There was a pagan festival held in Rome every February that focused on bringing new couples together. Boys would draw the names of girls from a container, and the pairs would stay together for the entire festival. Some would actually get married once the event was over! After Pope Gelasius I created St. Valentine’s Day, the festival turned into a Catholic celebration that focused on the saint.
Valentine’s Day traditions have evolved a lot over the years. For example, in the Middle Ages—which lasted from the 5th to 15th centuries in Europe—people exchanged handmade cards with love notes inside. Today, billions of dollars are spent on Valentine’s Day cards and gifts each year around the world.
How is Valentine’s Day celebrated in Japan? Let us know in your next Amity lesson!
Sincerely,
Your English Teachers at Mito Amity (˘˘ ♡)
