Oni wa Soto!
January 21st 2020
“Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi” We talked about Setubun which is held on February 3rd. Setubun is one of many Japanese traditional events where we wish for happiness and healthy life. Let’s learn more about it together!
Good morning! We say good-bye to our mommies or daddies when it’s drop off time. Our teachers are proud of us because most of us are settled in Petals class now. The carpet area was busy with trains, breakfast and birthday parties. At first we pretended having busy breakfast time. After a little while, Nimo joined us so we decided to pretend that we were having his birthday party. At the big table we were making Petals Magic School Bus with Pauline. We painted the big piece of cardboard yellow yesterday. We wanted to paint more so we painted with blue and pink for today. We will continue it again tomorrow. Our morning free play time flew by so fast, it was already time to clean up. After cleaning up, we gathered all together to greet each other. Sayaka asked the weather reporters to check today’s weather. So, K and C told us that today is windy and coooooold! K curled up his shoulder and said, “Today….cold!” But, having a cold day can’t be an excuse missing the chance to go to our park. We told our teachers that we want to go to the park!
Circle Time-Setubun.
After yummy snack time, we came back and sat on the big carpet. Today Sayaka talked about Setubun. At first she read the book about setubun Setubun is held on February 3rd. Back in the day, Japanese celebrated New Year on February 3rd. It is also said that Setubun is last day of winter. So, February 4th is beginning of spring which is knows as 立春 Rissyun. It is believed Oni (Japanese monster ) comes when the season change. On the day people throwing roasted beans and saying “Oni wa soto( Bad luck goes away!) Fuku wa uchi (Good luck inside!)” Throwing beans is called Mame maki. After that people eat the same number of beans as their ages and eat extra one bean to keep them from sickness and stay healthy for whole year. Sayaka asked us if we know what Oni is. A few of us know and said, “Maybe monster!” “Oni is like a dinosaur.” Most of us believe that Oni is very scary. Then Sayaka asked Pauline and Nimo if they’ve seen Oni when they were kids. They both said that they never seen Oni...Then Sayaka told us that Oni is actually invisible。It is actually negative energy or spirit. She added that Oni likes people who is angry, mean, and being naughty always. We listened to her very seriously. She was going to singing a song, Oni no pants but its already time to go to the park! So she will teach the song and learn more about setubun next time and headed to our park. We had mindfulness yoga time before lunch.
Love, The happy Petals 2020