Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Okinawan Custom

There is a custom here in Okinawa for someone's 1st birthday.
You place several items within reach of your little angel.



Usually you use a pen, a book, some rice, money and an abacus.
Whatever they choose is supposed to determine their future fortune.

So, if they go for the pen, they would be smart. If they go for the book they will have a good education. If they go for the rice, they will be well fed. If they go for the money, they will be rich. And if they go for the abacus, they will be good with numbers.

Of course, as Christians, we don't follow any such superstitions. We don't believe that our lives are left up to chance or fate. We believe in a God that is always in control of the situation.



We did this just for fun.
If you'd like to see what Emi chose, you can click here.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I didn't see an abacus in the picture. Are you sure it wasn't rigged? Looks like she had a great time on her first birthday!

The Pallmanns said...

Well, while the "soroban" (abacus in Japanese) is still widely learned here -- there are clubs and even schools for it, we just could not find one in our home. We felt the modern day equivalent of the calculator would work in a pinch.