Lesson #4

This Friday we tackled Lesson #4 for Ethiopia 101. I didn't realize this when I was planning our curriculum last month, but it worked out really well to talk about Ethiopia's calendar, festivals, music, art, and sports on one of America's biggest days of celebration - the 4th of July! I thought it would be fun to tie the two together just a little bit by doing an activity centered around the Ethiopian flag (because the American flag is so much a part of our 4th of July celebrations.) We discovered the meaning behind both the Ethiopian and American flags - which I found interesting. Here's what we found:

The Ethiopian flag: (found online at http://exodus2006.com/flag.htm)
Green represents the fertility of the country
Yellow represents the religious freedom
Red represents the lives sacrificed in the protection of national integrity
The star and it's rays represents the equality of all ethnic groups as well as creed and gender equity. Also, the rays point to Ethiopia's bright future and the blue background stands for peace and democracy.

The American flag:
The 50 stars represent the 50 states
The 13 stripes represent the 13 colonies
BUT, there's actually no official designation of the colors! (I never knew this)
In 1782, the gov't. chose the same red, white, and blue flag colors for the Great Seal of the US and they give meanings behind the colors then:
White represents purity and innocence
Red represents valor and hardiness
Blue represents vigilance, perseverance, and justice
I read that there are lots of legends, theories, and traditions concerning the colors of the flag (such as red stands for the blood shed), but I guess that's never been official!

And then for a fun activity (being crafty is just one of our things...see my last post) :), the kids and I made a trip to Hobby Lobby and bought some green, red, yellow, and blue fleece to make a giant flag blanket. I did a little sewing and then the kids (along with Ross' mom and bro and sis who were visiting for the holiday) tied the ends of the blanket to finish it up. (I know it's kind of weird to make a blanket in July, but amazingly, I wished we would've had it during fireworks - it was actually cold here!) I think it turned out pretty well! (And totally reminded us of a giant stop-light.)





To wrap this up, I did a little post-class student interview to get a taste for what they learned. :)

Ross: "I thought it was cool finding the traditional Ethiopian music and learning about some of the unique instruments like the washint which shepherds sometimes play to supposedly calm the animals."
(Ross was home too so he was in on this one. He actually found the Ethiopian national anthem on iTunes and some really cool traditional flute-ish washint music as well...good background blanket-making music.)

Ellie: "I learned that the day starts at 1 a.m., instead of 12 a.m. like it does here. And they make really cool leather-ish things like saddles and knife sheaths."
(We read a lot about different arts and crafts, and how most inspiration is from the country's religious traditions. They do a lot of metalwork, leatherwork, and basketry among other things. Also tapestry and weaving and stuff like that - which is kind of what got me thinking about the blanket idea. The kids and I want to make some silver cross necklaces - but we'll save that one for another lesson.) :)

Josie: "I learned that they play soccer, hockey, and track and field!"
(This was totally cool for my little soccer-girl/gymnast to find out.)

Maggie: "I think they have like 5 or 6 days in the week or something?!?!"
(ha ha...she's referring to the 13th month which has 5 or 6 days, depending on if it's a leap year. Instead of using the Gregorian calendar, like most of the Western world, Ethiopia uses the Julian calendar which has 13 months, instead of 12. Interestingly, the Ethiopian calendar is 7 yrs. and 8 mo. behind the Gregorian calendar.)

Miles: "I learned about music."
(Yep, buddy, you sure did. hee hee...He had lots of fun dancing and cracking us up.)

Me: My interest was especially piqued when studying the various religious festivals. I learned that Ethiopian holidays are very popular and a way for people to come together and feast, give gifts, sing, dance, play games, and just take a break from the daily grind. I even discovered that one of the most popular festivals honors a patron saint that has the same name we've been carrying in our minds and hearts for our future child for over a year! It's got lots of special meaning already, and this was kind of another cool connection...but I'm not gonna tell...yet! :)