Читать книгу Children of the Sun - William H. Clark - Страница 8

THE DAWN

For the beautiful morning

After a restful night,

For food and clothing warm

We thank Thee, Heavenly Father.

(Courtesy of Nihon Kirisutokyodan Sambika Iinkai. Children's hymn in Japanese, copyright release no. 88)

Our baby

A Little One Is Born

A little one is born.

What dreams are born with him.

What longings, hopes, and wishes

Fill his parents’ hearts this day.

A little heathen child is born,

Born to worship idols deaf,

Born to honor ancestors dead,

Born to live with superstitions,

Born to die?

Oh, why should it be?

This little babe should hear of Jesus,

This little soul would trust I’m sure.

Baby dear, I’ll come to your land.

Just wait, I’ll soon be there ...

A walk with Grandpa

Special Occasions for a Japanese Baby

In Japan babies are usually born at their grandmother’s house. Right away they are given a bath in a big wooden tub.

7th Day: On this day the tiny baby has his first haircut. With a straight razor his head and neck are shaven, leaving just a black fringe on the top of his head. Then all of the relatives come to a dinner of red rice (rice and red beans cooked together). The rice is very pretty and tasty, with sesame seed and salt sprinkled on top. At this time, too, the new baby is given his name.

Baby doesn’t like the good-luck dragon!

More Special Days for Baby

32nd Day: Today Baby is dedicated to the neighborhood gods. The baby is dressed in a beautiful, embroidered silk kimono and taken on his grandmother’s back. Before they enter the Shinto shrine’s courtyard, the grandmother dips water from a stone trough and washes her mouth and hands.

Above the shrine door is a metal gong which Grandmother rings and then claps her hands twice and bows low. Soon the priest, wearing a bright silk brocade robe, waves a paper broom over the baby’s head and says some special words. In this way he tries to sweep away all evil.

Next, Baby is taken to visit relatives and friends and is given many papier mâché dogs. The little dogs are usually white and red and carry a blessing that is to help the little baby grow up to be as healthy as a puppy.

Finally the baby arrives back home and is joyously received by his mother, and again everyone eats red rice. It is such a happy time when there is a new baby in the house.

120th Day: By now the baby has one or two teeth, so a fine meal is prepared, and a special tray is made for Baby with all kinds of fancy dishes. Daddy holds the baby boy or Mother holds the baby girl, and they make believe that the baby is eating. Now the baby is really part of the family.

I’m helping my mama plant rice

Poor Little Sparkle

“It’s a cripple!”

“Look at its legs!”

“Poor little thing.”

“It will never walk!”

The old women of the neighborhood were gathered around a young Japanese mother just after she had given birth to a sweet baby girl. The old midwife was already busy giving the baby its first bath, and the young father had rushed out to tell his friends the news, not having noticed the baby’s deformities. Anyone could plainly see that there was something wrong with the baby’s crooked little back. The misshapen, skinny legs looked as if they would never be able to carry the little girl around.

In spite of her crippled legs, the baby was named “Sparkle,” and through the years she proved to be the joy of her parents’ lives. Her shiny brown eyes danced happily as she crawled around the house dragging her weak legs, and nothing seemed to trouble her brave little heart.

Sparkle lived in a town in western Japan where there is lots of snow. Women there wear heavy, blanket-like shawls with long fringes. These make the women look like Indian squaws. When Sparkle was small, her mother tied her to her back and put a heavy shawl over the two of them. Sparkle always loved to go out in the snow, so snug under her mother’s shawl.

Then one day a sad thing happened. Sparkle’s father died, and there was no one to make money for them to live on. Now Sparkle’s mother had to work hard to be able to buy their rice and fish and to pay for the charcoal for the blue, pottery, pot-like stove that kept their house warm. While her mother was away working, Sparkle had to stay at home by herself.

“What’s that? Listen ... I’ve never heard that before.”

For the first time Sparkle heard someone singing hymns in the street. From her room she listened as she heard a voice telling about Someone who was the “Light of the World.” She decided that she wanted to hear more about it, so that very night she limped to the nearby meeting hall. At that meeting she gave her heart to the living God and asked Him to guide her for the rest of her life. That summer Sparkle was baptized in the blue, blue Japan Sea.

Sparkle still can’t walk very well. Because she couldn’t go to a doctor when she was little, one leg is a lot shorter than the other, and when she walks, she hobbles back and forth. Her legs are lame, but just as her name says, she has a light in her heart that shines out to others in the darkness around her.

Rice and goma seeds . . . Yumm!!

My swimming pool

Little Heathen Child

Little slant eye so sparkling and bright

Why do you look at idols so mean?

Why do you worship at their feet?

What do you think those stone eyes have seen?

Little pink cheek so soft and pure,

Do you know God loves you, dear?

Do you know He died to save?

Won’t you trust His Grace so near?

Little white hand so open and free,

Will you forever clap to pray?

Will those hands rub cold images bare?

Won’t you know God hears your prayer?

Little heathen heart in far Japan

For whom no song holds meaning deep

For whom we all forget to pray

May you know, little one, His love today.

Congratulations, Little Miss

Seven-Five-Three Festival

For over four hundred years all Japanese children who are three, five, or seven years old have been going to the shrine on November 15th to express their gratitude to the gods.

Little girls receive colorful, new, silk kimonos and wear high, fancy wooden shoes. They have tinkling bells fastened to the heels of their shoes and to the big butterflylike ribbons in their hair.

Boys wear black or dark-colored outfits that have full, pleated skirts that reach to the ankle. Both boys and girls wear pure white stockings that have the big toe separated for the thong that keeps their wooden sandals on.