Golden Week

Happy Golden Week.... oh you don't know what that is??? Let me tell you about it... It is a bunch of Japanese holidays all clumped into one week. It is a very popular time for the Japanese to take vacations and travel as it is a short week for work with all of the holidays. Many flights and trains are completely booked during this week. In Japan during this week, many stores have different hours, and they even change the traffic lights to account for more people not working during this time! It's kind of a big deal! April 29th is the Emperor's birthday, but it was the old Emperor (until 1988) however it is still celebrated today. May 3rd is Constitution Day honoring the Japanese Constitution put into effect in 1947. Greenery Day in on May 4th and is in honor of the emperor who served from 1926-1989. This day is important because it calls for reflection of this turbulent time in Japanese history instead of actually celebrating the emperor. The final holiday is Children's Day, previously known as Boys' Day!!! Now, it is to celebrate ALL children but it used to be just for the boys with lots of fun traditions to go along with it.

Boys' Day is to celebrate the happiness of the boys in Japan. It is on the 5th day of the 5th month at the end of Golden Week! *I'm pretty sure Cinco de Mayo is NOT a big holiday celebration here...* Boys' Day has been celebrated for hundreds and hundreds of years and is also celebrated in many other Asian countries as it is based on the Chinese calendar and traditions. If you remember the previous blog where I talked all about Girls' Day and talked about some of the traditions to have happy, healthy girls who don't have to wait long to get married and they put out the figures of the prince and princess... Anyway, the Boys' Day has it's own traditions for strong and healthy boys. The BIG thing is these carp flags as you can see in the picture. Chinese legend is the basis for this and it all comes from the idea that a carp that swims upstream against the current becomes a dragon... thus being strong!!! The carp blowing in the wind are said to look like they are swimming! So cool! Another big thing for Boys' Day is to get a Japanese military helmet (kabuto) for your boy and display it because it represents strength!!! Very neat traditions here!

Japanese Word of the Day:
Kyujitsu (key-you-jit-sue): Holiday