Greetings, gentle readers, and many apologies for the long delay.
As I mentioned in my previous little post, there have been a lot of things keeping me ocupied lately, some of them pleasant (finishing a novel, crashing on the sofa with a book all day and not feeling the least bit guilty), some not so pleasant (figuring out the labyrinthine system of getting a Japanese driver’s license, figuring out how our new health insurance works). In any case, I’m back, and playing catch-up once again.
Throughout the school year, the students take various trips, both educational and fun in nature. The first-year (7th grade) students get to go camping, at a site not too far from the school (Shimoyama being blessed with abundant and unspoiled mountains and forests).
The first night of camp, the students experience the “haunted forest”… where they are sent out in groups of five or six, wielding a chochin (one of those round traditional paper lanterns on a stick) along a forest path. The teachers hide out in the forest and, with the help of some simple special effects, make for a fun and exciting walk.
I made a costume- in the dark, it didn’t have to be so elaborate- consisting of long, ghostly streamers, cut from stiff plastic bags, which I pinned to my sleeves and shirt tails. Then I hid in an outdoor restroom with a bamboo pole, buckets of rocks, and other noisemakers, and raised an unholy racket whenever a group approached… culminating with my bursting forth, slobbering and howling like a madman, and chasing them around a bit. I was, by all reports, pretty scary. One girl took a swing at me with the chochin and almost clocked me.
When the final group came through, I went with them, and got to see what a few other teachers had in store. The principal had rigged up some ropes to make branches sway menacingly, and used small hand-held LEDs to make will-o-wisps in the woods. It was pretty cool.
The next night was the campfire…
Here’s our principal again, dressed as the fire god, descending from the mountains to give the kids a lecture on fire safety.
FIRE!
phnglui mglw’nafl Cthulhu r’lyeh wgah nagl fhtagn… ah, wait… heh heh heh… (If you don’t get that joke, start reading H.P. Lovecraft stories until you do.) The students cavort around the campfire…
Damien… what have I told you about calling forth the flames of Hades, young man?
Seriously, ain’t this a cool picture? I’m so proud of myself.
Relax, folks. This man is NOT on fire. Nor is he breathing fire. This is one of the camp staff who helped tend the roaring flames. Another pic I’m proud of.
And now we come to… the Fire Dance.
For two weeks prior to the camp, I saw a group of about a dozen 7th graders, practicing outside with metal rods topped with rags tied on with wire. I asked what they were doing.
“Practicing for the fire dance.” I was told.
“Fire dance. As in, those things will be on fire?”
“Hai.”
Right now, I’m sure most of you reading this are having thoughts of lawyers, liability, and various disasters dancing in your heads. I admit that I had similar thoughts.
However, I have always believed… and, in many cases, like this one, have been proven totally correct… that people tend to have extremely skewed senses of risk assessment.
I also firmly believe that if you give kids responsibility, and give them the knowledge to safely deal with said responsibility, that 99.9% of the time, they will pay you back by being responsible.
Thus, I watched a dozen of my 7th graders twirl metal rods topped with kerosene-coated flaming rags rapidly around their heads and bodies in intricate patterns to musical accompaniment.
It was a damn good show.
They were whirling them so fast it was hard to see… no mishaps!
I leave you with this time-exposure shot of sparks flying into the night sky…
More to come. Stay tuned and thanks for reading!
