16th November, TOLERANCE DAY

Sadako and the thousand cranes

Japanese Origami Technic gave us the idea on how to celebrate Tolerance Day at our school. There is the story of a little girl name Sadako Sasaki who lived in Hiroshima at the time of the atomic bombing by the United States. She developed leukemia from the radiation and spent her time in a nursing home creating origami (folded paper) cranes in hope of making a thousand of them. She was inspired to do so by the Japanese legend that one who created a thousand origami cranes would then be granted a wish. Her wish was simply to live. However, she managed to fold only 644 (356 to go) cranes before she became too weak to fold any more, and died shortly after. Her friends and family helped finish her dream by folding the rest of the cranes, which were buried with Sadako. They also built a statue of Sadako holding a giant golden origami crane in Hiroshima Peace Park.

Now every year on Obon Day, which is a holiday in Japan to remember the departed spirits of one's ancestors, thousands of people leave paper cranes near the statue. On the statue is a plaque: "This is our cry. This is our prayer. Peace on Earth."

A thousand paper cranes are traditionally given as a wedding gift by the father, who is wishing a thousand years of happiness and prosperity upon the couple. They can also be gifted to a new baby for long life and good luck. Hanging a Senbazuru in one's home is thought to be a powerfully lucky and benevolent charm.

In Western countries, the custom has been extended from giving a senbazuru to cancer patients, to using them at funerals or on the grave. Specially significant is the one in Saint Paul's Church near Cero Zone in New York. Here's a photograph of it.

So, origami cranes are a symbol of Peace all over the world. Peace and Tolerance are so united that we celebrate both when we celebrate only one of them. 

We ask all our students to make origami figures and write a message in it, about Tolerance and Peace. We hang them all in our the entrance hall.