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- Star light, star bright,
- The first star I see tonight;
- I wish I may, I wish I might,
- Have the wish I wish tonight.
Do you know the popular Star light, Star Bright Rhyme? It is American and believed to be from the late 19th century. (Source) No one seems to know if the rhyme or wishing on the first star came first though. There are many different stories as to the source of wishing on stars or shooting stars, so I will leave that up to you.
Why am I talking about wishing on stars and an American nursery rhyme on Multicultural Monday? Well, I want to share with you a wonderful book that I will be referencing often on Multicultural Mondays. The book is Wish: Wishing Traditions Around the World by Roseanne Thong.
This book offers a short rhyme about a way a country's children (and people) wish and then describes it in more detail. It includes wishing traditions from Australia, Brazil, China, Guatemala, India, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Thailand, and the United States (which in not wishing on stars). This book is full of so many beautiful pictures (illustrated by Elisa Kleven) and introduces so many new customs as well as shedding some new light on ones I already knew.
For example, do you know about the Guatemalan Kite Festivals (November 1 and 2)? Wow, these look amazing. Here are some sites to check out the amazing pictures of these enormous kites. Festival Sumpango (sorry it is in Spanish and I cannot seem to get the English part working but if you go to the galleria the pictures are beautiful). Environmental Graffitti (English blog with beautiful pictures) Answers.com (for a little history).
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There are also the traditions of putting lucky coins in your left shoe (Russia), wishing as you blow a dandelion pod (Ireland), tossing a coin into Trevi Fountain (Italy) or any fountain in our country and so many more.
What do you wish upon? What are your culture's wishing traditions?
What an interesting book! I spent this past weekend camping with my parents and my son. Every time we went over a cattle guard, my dad would call out, "Feet up! Make a wish!" As a kid, my sister and I would cross our fingers, touch a screw on the interior of the car, and raise our feet every time we went over a railroad track to get a wish. My mom told me that when she was young, she and her siblings would get a wish every time they saw a hay wagon. It would be interesting to find out if these wishes were family things or if they originated somewhere.
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