Japanese Lanterns

In comparison to Western art, traditional Japanese art is very much a part of everyday life and beauty is found in simple, humble things.With its introduction by a traveler from the Asian continent in the 1500s the convention of the Japanese lantern continues today as a cultural icon. Starting with use in temples and marking holy grounds in carved stone lights, the paper lantern rapidly took precedence to became a household utility, surpassed only by employment of enterprising inn and shop keepers to advertise room vacancies and food items. The worldly use of stone lanterns evolved with the sacred tea ceremony. Today, the institution of the Japanese lantern use is an evolutionary mix of the paper orb lamp and the modern flashing lights in its cities.

Students will select 1 traditional japanese festival from 3 different traditional Japanese festivals, and research the cultural significance of the chosen festival. Students will choose from  Nagasaki Kunchi, a festival held in Nagasaki, Japan where five to seven groups of performers perform each year, presenting traditional Japanese dances, Chinese influenced dragon dances or performances involving large floats, many of which are shaped like ships.  The Kanto Matsuri--In this festival, the highlight of the festival is an impressive display of skill in which performers balance kanto, or long bamboo poles with arrays of paper lanterns attached to the end. And lastly, The Chichibu Night Festival is considered one of Japan's top three festivals to feature floats. Its floats are ornately decorated with lanterns, tapestries and gilded wood carvings and are accompanied by drum and flute music.

      The objectives of the project are as follows:

1.       Students will observe traditional Japanese paintings and be able to describe the aesthetics of simplicity, beauty and reverence for nature.

2.       Students will choose patterns, design elements and subject matter that relate to this historic culture for their own artworks.

3.       Students will create a free-standing 3-dimensional, functional piece from a flat painting.

Resources:

Crayola.com -- Japan's Hina Matsuri Festival

National Consortium for Teaching About Asia -- Ohio
Kids Web Japan

Sukkah Hut

The sukkah is a hut built for use during the weeklong Jewish holiday of Sukkot. The sukkah represents the temporary wilderness shelters used by the Jews after fleeing from Egypt and must be built anew each year. During Sukkot, the sukkah is used for eating, sleeping, relaxing and socializing. Many people decorate their sukkahs using tree branches or the fruits of the harvest. Students will design and construct a Sukkah hut from cardboard (shown below).

Every year in Jewish people as well as other cultures around the world sit in the sukkah. But why? This short lesson gives students an opportunity to explore why we sit in the sukkah and what it symbolizes.
Sukkot (Hebrew: סוכות‎ or סֻכּוֹת sukkōt or sukkos, Feast of Booths, Feast of Tabernacles) is a biblical holiday celebrated on the 15th day of the month of Tishrei (variously from late September to late October). It is one of the three biblically mandated festivals Shalosh regalim on which Hebrews were commanded to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem. It follows the solemn holiday of Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement.

The holiday lasts seven days (eight in the diaspora). The first day (and second in the diaspora) is a sabbath-like yom tov when work is forbidden, followed by the intermediate Chol Hamoed and Shemini Atzeret. The Hebrew word sukkōt is the plural of sukkah, "booth or tabernacle", which is a walled structure covered with skhakh (plant material such as leafy tree overgrowth or palm leaves).
The sukkah is intended as a reminiscence of the type of fragile dwellings in which the Israelites dwelt during their 40 years of travel in the desert after the Exodus from slavery in Egypt. Below is a video that depicts the festivities that are involved in Sukkot:

Throughout the holiday, meals are eaten inside the sukkah and some people sleep there as well. On each day of the holiday, members of the household recite a blessing over the lulav and etrog (Four species). According to the prophet Zechariah, in the messianic era Sukkot will become a universal festival and all nations will make pilgrimages annually to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast there.



Resources
The Lookstein Center
Sukkot 101 at MyJewishLearning.com
NSW Board of Jewish Education
How to build a Sukkah for Sukkot

God's Eye

The Ojo de Dios, or God's Eye, is a simple or complex weaving made across two or more sticks and is thought to have originated with the Huichol Indians of Jalisco, Mexico. The Huichol call their God's eyes Sikuli, which means "the power to see and understand things unknown." When a child is born, the central eye is woven by the father, then one eye is added for every year of the child's life until the child reaches the age of five. Original Huichol Crosses are extremely rare to come by. The YouTube video below gives a thourough demonstration of how to create a God's Eye:

For this project, you can use just about anything, including twigs, straws, skewers (trim the pointed ends off) and even pencils. You can make smaller versions by using toothpicks and embroidery floss. Try changing up the yarn by using several solid colors, changing color after several wraps by switching colors in the back of the project.

Resources
Crafts by Amanda
Oklahoma Historical Society - God's Eye
Native American Facts - God's Eye