THE JAPANESE TEA CEREMONY

Class 1 C, Mrs. Mateescu's class, had a very special activity at the beginning of June. It was an activity about the Japanese tea ceremony. The children learned a lot of interesting things about this ceremony and tried to perform one in their class. They had a lot of help from their teacher and parents, of course, but it's their work. Here are some of the things they found out:

The tea ceremony played an important role in Japan’s cultural and artistic life for more than 400years. It is an art and a way of disciplining the soul. The people who gather to take part in the ceremony have to leave outside all the problems and the worries of the everyday life in order to spend some quiet moments in a calm atmosphere;

A complete ceremony lasts 4 hours, includes serving cookies and serving tea twice. The host must do everything to create an aesthetic, intellectual and psychical comfort for the guests.

oThe ceremony has the role to turn the guests attention to the beauty of nature, water, light, fire;

oThe conversation in the tea room will only be about these things; the guests will not chat in groups, they will speak highly of the host’s utensils and grace, of the tea ritual.

oAs far as clothing is concerned, most of the times it is used the kimono; the clothes must have simple patterns and be very clean;

oThe body movements must be harmonious, serene and calm;

oVery important is also the way you move, sit down, pour the tea, hold the tea cup;

These are the fundamental principles of the tea ceremony:

o Harmony – Wa – Harmony must be created between people, between objects, between people and objects. The order and disposition of objects in a certain way creates harmony.

o Respect - Kei – Respect for a rule, for the instruments of the ceremony, for other people and self-respect.

o Purity - Sei – Interior purity and the purity (cleanliness) of the things around us.

o Tranquility - Jaku – If all the above principles are respected, you get serenity and calm.

Here are some pictures from the activity:

Mrs. Dragnea, our headteacher, was a special guest at the ceremony.



Another class, 3B, made drawings of the whole activity.