By Kate Hodges
13th August 2020
DO Keeping Harmony
The summer holidays can be blissful and laughter-filled, but if boredom and niggles set in, they can also be glum. However, these outdoor games designed for siblings may just help keep the peace and lift spirits. Who could be moany while playing a game of Elephant Trunks (putting an old pair of tights with tennis balls in the toes on your head and trying to knock over old bottles). There are also plenty of suggestions that use water; perfect for cooling down hot heads.
LEARN and DO Honour Your Ancestors
The Japanese Buddhist-Confucian custom of Bon or Obon honours the spirits of family ancestors, and this year falls August 13–15. The three-day festival has been celebrated for 500 years, and is a little like the Mexican Day of the Dead celebrations – find a great explanation and incredible pictures here and a more child-friendly rundown here. Traditionally, families return home to perform rituals, mark the lives of their predecessors, and liberate disquiet spirits through lighting fires, building altars of fruit and incense, decorating tombs and preparing special meals. There are special dances, Bon Odori, that everyone takes part in, alongside taiko drummers. Find out more about the festival, including how to do your own Obon dance here, or try making your own Obon lantern.
RECIPE Berry Good
We are in full-on blackberry-picking mode. If there are any left after eating them straight from the bramble, we’re going to try some recipes that go beyond crumble and standard jam. This chocolate blackberry sauce affair looks incredible, while fermented blackberry soda will see us through warm, late-summer afternoons in fizzy, gut-healthy style. Our love for lemon curd knows no boundaries, but we’re betting it’s even tarter spiked with berries, while blackberry sage sorbet has us drooling. Find many more ideas, including kid-friendly fruit leathers here.
EVENT Back To Collage
Join a super-creative free Instagram workshop this Saturday afternoon inspired by Creatures of the Mappa Mundi, a project by artist Yinka Shonibare CBE that turns the experience of feeling like an outsider into a joyful celebration of what it is to be different. Artist Jill Impey, who is running the class explains, “In the workshop we will create a postcard artwork, reflecting the themes of the project, which was exhibited at Hereford Cathedral, the home of the medieval Mappa Mundi. We will use elements of Yinka Shonibare’s colour, shape, texture, pattern, and his ideas about caring and equality. We will explore words, create a collage background and a creature to place on top, using recycled and easily available materials.” 2pm. More here Part of the excellent series of on- and offline events at the Worcester Festival
EVENT and DO Mappy Day
Saturday is World Geocaching Day. This cross between a treasure hunt, a ramble and orienteering was invented in the USA in 2000, but quickly exploded in popularity. Now millions of people use sites such as geocaching.com to track down stashes of goodies or visitor books strapped into Tupperware containers hidden in woods, countryside or parks near them. Add purpose to a family walk, pique teenagers’ into leaving the house, and maybe even leave your own little box of treasure somewhere. Find out more here and here
What we’ve been reading this week:
John Freeman’s collection of poems, essays and musings Tales of Two Planets: Stories of Climate Change and Inequality in a Divided World is out now. His publishers say, “Galvanized by his conversations with writers and activists around the world, Freeman engaged with some of today’s most eloquent storytellers, many of whom hail from the places under the most acute stress–from the capital of Burundi to Bangkok, Thailand. The response has been extraordinary. Margaret Atwood conjures with a dys¬topian future in a remarkable poem. Lauren Groff whisks us to Florida; Edwidge Danticat to Haiti; Tahmima Anam to Bangladesh; Yasmine El Rashidi to Egypt, while Eka Kurniawan brings us to Indonesia, Chinelo Okparanta to Nigeria, and Anuradha Roy to the Himalayas in the wake of floods, dam building, and drought. This is a literary all-points bulletin of fiction, essays, poems, and reportage about the most important crisis of our times.”
Listen to a sample from the book and find out more here or listen to an interview with John and Tahmima Anam here
Found something inspirational to read that you’d like to share? Want to share your creations with us? Have an idea for things to do? We’d love to hear from you. Email Kate
