Petals Shichi Go San
We had a very special event today in Petals! We celebrated Shichi-Go-San (Seven-Five-Three) which is a traditional Japanese custom. The Seven, Five, and Three is the child’s age. A long time ago when we didn’t have the medicine and doctors we have now, children got sick and weren’t able to get better. So growing up to be three years old, five years old, and seven years old back then was a big deal. On these years they would go to a temple to wish for good health until they were Seven years old. Seven was the age that everyone believed was when the child had the protection of the gods.
All of our friends are at least Three years old we were going to have our Shichi-Go-San celebration of our own where we would wear the traditional Japanese Kimonos and have our pictures taken to mark our first milestone! Before we started to get changed into our kimonos, we needed one very important item for our Shichi-Go-San event, and that was the Chitose Ame bag. We got together as a class and worked on our very own Petals Chitose Bag. We took turns adding things to our bag, and while we waited we were either hanging out in the play huts, or working on the “Opposites” puzzles. Once our bags were ready, we packed away our toys and Sayaka read us a Japanese book みんな げんきで 七五三 (Minna Genkide Shichi Go San) by Teruo Terumura which about the Shichi-Go-San celebration. While Sayaka was reading us the story, the preparations were being finished up. L’s mom, grandma, M’s mom, and R’s mom came inside to help with the dressing up.
Once the prep was done, we started to change into our kimonos. We only had one boy kimono and one girl kimono so we had to wait for our turn. In the meantime we had our snacks then played with legos and music with Nimo on the other side. The moms and grandma helped our friends get changed and Sayaka and Pauline were our photographers.
Many of us really enjoyed wearing the beautiful dress. After we got changed into the kimono, the adults seemed much more excited than we were and they took lots and lots of photos. We all had a chance to have a solo picture taken and a pair picture. Wearing the kimonos were very difficult so it took a bit of time for us to get changed. By the time we finished taking everyone’s photos, it was time for our lunch. L’s mom Karin had a special gift for us, the Chitose Ame. It’s a candy that the Shichi-Go-San children get! K helped Sayaka pack them away into our bags so can enjoy them at home!
We had a super fun, and super tiring day today. Dressing in the Kimonos were fun, but after we got dressed we were in the center of attention and we had to try our best to smile. Needless to say we were pretty tired, most of our friends were already dozing off during lunch time.
The weather this weekend doesn’t look so great, plus it’s really cold… Hope everyone stays warm and doesn't catch anything nasty. See yall on Monday!
Love,
Kimono Petals