Mochi Tsuki Festival

The annual Making mochi (sticky rice cakes) Festival and school fund-raiser was last Saturday at Nakayoshi. Jolon's class made and sold cookies as one of the fund-raising activities. They also got to go around and spend about $3.00 that we'd sent to Ibuki earlier in the week. Jolon got to buy some recycled toys and choose a treat or two: chocolate banana, popcorn, cotton candy, etc. Kellan's class did a small dance performance. Unfortunately just before it started, he fell down or somehow got hurt and so he cried (LOUDLY) throughout the whole thing. He got over it pretty quickly though and enjoyed walking around with his class to each stall. The highlight of the day was the taiko drum and lion-dragon performance. Legend has it that if the dragon bites your head, it will bring you good luck. The point is for the kids to be terrified, but be able to overcome the fear and stick their heads into the mouth of the scary dragon. With some help from the teachers, most kids did it. Despite them wailing, Kellan's teachers mostly picked their kids up individually and stuck the heads into the mouth. I held Esme up and Nobu gave Jolon a boost. Later both boys admitted they were scared but were very proud of themselves for having done it. I got some nice pictures, but my favorite of the day is the one of Nobu kissing Esme.