Children's Day

Last Saturday here was a holiday called Children's Day.  It forms part of the annual so-called Golden Week holiday which has several consecutive holidays in a row, and if it includes a weekend at the end (as this year) can mean the opportunity for a well-earned break for people who lead busy lives.  The day was at one point called Boys' Day (there is a separate Girls' Day in March) but became Childrens' Day some 60 or so years ago.  One of the traditions associated with that day is the flying of 'koinobori' - large (some very large) flags in the shape of the carp fish.  This is meant to symobolise the hope that sons will grow up healthy and strong.  On Saturday we were at an onsen resort not too far away from where we stay and were able to see many large carp-shaped flags strung across from various places, fluttering in the wind.  Actually we took the opportunity for a night away.  Spending just one night in an onsen hotel is something many Japanese love to do.  You get in to your room (ours was the traditional tatami room with futons for sleeping) and then change into a yukata (light kimono) and enjoy the facilities in the hotel, which may be pools for swimming in or hot springs for soaking in.  Dinner is often buffet style and people wear their yukata and slippers to go to eat.  In fact when you go down for breakfast in the morning, many are still wearing the yukata.  The thinking is that you can leave your normal world (including your usual clothes) aside for a while and just escape into another world for the day.  Perhaps not something that might make sense to people in the west who would never think of driving half an hour up the road to a hot spring hotel and spending only one night there, far less go around inside wearing a yukata and slippers!  But it really does make for a refreshing and invigorating break, even if just for the one night.  The next day, being a Sunday, we were back for our usual worship service in Hiragishi in the afternoon.  The first Sunday in the month is when we hold communion.  At the start, we made reference to the day before being Children's Day.  We were all once children.  The gift of a child is a blessing indeed.  But the most wonderful thing is to become a child of God and that is what we can become due to the great love lavished on us by a God who gave his only Son to die that we might find life and hope.