The Kite- Flying Festival
Image from: https://www.holidify.com/pages/kite-festival-ahmedabad-3577.html
Yay! We get to travel again today- and we went to India!
Our special “tour guide” for today was A’s mommy, N. We greeted her good morning and she showed us the presentation she prepared for us. First, she showed us where Japan and India are on the map. S also volunteered and he pointed out on our big world map where Japan is. N said that India is 9 times the size of Japan! When you want to go to India from Japan, it will take half a day. That’s a long time!
India has 28 states and 22 languages- wow! That’s a lot! N said that she and A come from Gujarat. People from Gujarat love to celebrate, wear colorful clothes, and eat delicious food (Our teachers got excited about this).
Gujarat is famous for a kite-flying festival that happens every January 14. It marks the end of winter. India only has three seasons: monsoon, winter, and summer. Winter only lasts for 2 months, and then it’s summer after that. Summer is very important to Indians as this is the time they can grow lots of crops- in Gujarat they grow bananas, papaya, mangoes (“That’s my favorite!” we heard Pauline say), and cotton.
The Makaran Sankranti or kite- flying festival is a big celebration. Lots of materials used to make kites, and ready- made kites are being sold. People will then spend a whole day on their rooftops, eating food and flying kites. That sounds like a lot of FUN!
People can also get competitive with kite- flying. N told us that the string used for the kites are really strong, so you can actually use your kite to cut the strings on another kite! She showed us a video of how everyone can get competitive and be very involved with the kite- flying.
During the festival, they eat a mixed vegetable dish, and chikki (sesame seed brittle). N and A brought chikki for everybody as a present- hooray!
After the presentation, N asked if we had any questions.
“I like to fly a kite,” Co said, and her sentiments were repeated by K, H, and S. Actually, everyone in the class wanted to fly kites! So we all told N, “I want to fly a kite!” to which she enthusiastically said that we can all go next time. She said in Chiba, there’s quite a big Indian community, and we can go there if we want for kite- flying.
“Is Indian food spicy or sweet?” R asked. N replied that Indian food is both sweet and spicy. We can practically hear our teachers’ tummies rumble– they love Indian food!
R nodded in understanding upon hearing N’s answer.
“I like only one- sweet,” R said.
“I like sweet food,” C told N.
“I like sweet food,” H also told her.
After that, we thanked N for touring us around Gujarat, India, and for being patient with all our comments and questions. A gave us the chikki, which we happily put in our backpack. Our teachers said that we can eat it at home (We need to ask permission from our mommies and daddies first).
“I want to eat this at the park when I have snack,” H said. When K got picked up in the afternoon, he excitedly showed his chikki to his mommy, who asked what it was.
“A present from A,” he told her, and he and Pauline explained to his mommy that they “went” to India today.
We went to Step Park afterwards, and it was great to have the green area to ourselves. We didn’t have the balls with us, so we had a great time running around the green area. We love it when Sayaka pretends to be a monster and tries to catch us so she can eat us; we loved chasing Kai who was so quick to dodge us whenever we try to catch him; and Pauline turned her scarf into a cape and was pretending to be Elsa while singing “Let It Go”. Then she said she was Batman and sprinted across the green area with her cape flying, so we ran after her, too, pretending to be superheroes. Then she said that she Darth Vader and pretended to use the “force” on Kai, who fell to the ground. Kai said he was “Sleeping Handsome” and needed a princess to wake him up. Instead, everyone jumped on him while giggling.
That’s all for today- how about you? How was your day?
Love,
All the junior jet setters in Petals Class