Children's Day!

When I was a kid, on May 5th, my dad used to put up the carp kites on a pole on the roof of our house. I thought that was so cool to see them flying up there, swimming wildly through the sky. On the other hand, back then it was actually called "Boy's Day," so the carp were flying for my brothers. Carp are symbols of strength, perseverance and long life, which are traits that you want in boys--I guess. I mean, it's ok to have weak, short-lived, wishy washy girls--they don't need no stinkin' kites. I think on Girl's Day you actually put out dolls or something boring like that. I never liked dolls. But I LOVE the carp kites, or Koinobori as they're also called. They're beautiful things. There are just some things that are really beautiful in spite of themselves. I think the symbolic power of our flying koinobori rubbed off on me, because I've always been one stubborn girl. I have koinobori of my own, but they're tiny--not meant to really fly. But they will fly today. I'm going to hang them out my window at work.

(I need to put a disclaimer here--I'm not bitter. Growing up, you just know that there are things that you do for boys and things you do for girls. They're called traditions and you should savor every one of them because it's so easy to lose touch with them. As a kid, you don't have this sense of inequality or discontent. You just look up in the sky and see the carp flying beautifully and say to yourself, hey, it must be Boy's Day, and then you enjoy the view. I'm really glad my dad put up the kites because it's something I look fondly back on and treasure. If I have kids I'll do the same--but I'm putting up kites for girls because they need to be strong and perserverant to make it in this world.)

Let's just enjoy some fine examples of koinobori: