For the past week my
3 class VIII sections have been studying an essay called “Prayer flags blowing
in the wind” which I thought combined perfectly with the song lyrics of
“Blowin’ in the wind” by Bob Dylan which just happened to be included as a poem
in the same unit.
From the moment I saw
the titles I knew I would want to fly prayer flags with them once we had done
the hard yards.
I had the flags on
standby and bit the bullet and asked permission from my principal for this venture
at the beginning of the week. I already knew that they would require blessing
by a lama and an auspicious day would have to be selected. That was exactly
what transpired and as we discussed the project a Dzongkha Lopen was summoned
and given the task of getting the blessing and the date.
I knew it would be a
hit with the students and was really looking forward to it. Their spirits were
not in the slightest bit dampened by the drizzling rain and they were quick to
point out that rain is in fact a lucky omen.
Having explained to
them that the Prayer Wheel area on campus would be my choice of location, I
allowed them to select exactly where they would fly their class set and it was
easily resolved.
One string from the
cypress trees along the nearby boundary fence and 2 from the Physics Lab
balcony on the opposite side were our possible choices and each class seemed
happy with their placement.
Knowing full well
that it wouldn’t be acceptable to send off a delegation to accomplish the job,
I assigned groups various essential roles: tying them together, stringing them
up, adding the string to affix them, preparing and burning the ritual cypress
leaves for purification smoke and lighting incense.
We had a matches-in-charge
and string distributer as well as scissors dispenser and all others were asked
to keep the prayer wheel turning!
All jobs were
assigned in the classroom and greeted with choruses of “Madam, madam, madam”
and eager volunteers’ hands in the air.
Then out into the
rain we filed and set about our duties in a spirit of absolute delight.
I left them to it
and took to taking photos, which inevitably resulted in “One photo Madam,”
requests.
The campus was awash
with mud and the rain continued to fall but there was nothing but joy and
laughter during the entire process.
More than once I was
struck by the thought that this would be impossible in Australia. (Occupational
Health and Safety monitors would have a heart attack! There were moments when I
thought I might too)
I was somewhat
afraid of disaster and continually counseling caution much to the amusement of
the students. Most notably when my own home class by sheer timetabling managed
to get first pick of locations and boys took to shinnying up the slippery bark
of the cypress trees to the very top.
I was imagining
having to explain how they fell to devastated parents but all ended
uneventfully and we lived to tell the tale.
With all 3 groups their co-operative endeavors and the surety and confidence with which they conducted themselves was impressive.
What a lovely way to
spend a rainy Friday morning.
No-one was at all concerned about how wet they got and we will all have the pleasure of watching our prayer flags send their prayers to the heavens for the rest of the year.
Tashi Delek!
