It had been a year since Tenzin had joined the monastery, he thought back about his life before climbing up the mountain and starting his new life as a Buddhist monk.

Tenzin had been born to humble parents in the village of Gyalpo. His family had been devoted practitioners of Buddhism for generations. Tenzin’s earliest memories were of prayer and the comforting presence of the nearby monastery. His parents, recognizing the spiritual interests of their son, encouraged him to explore the teachings of Buddhism from a young age.

As a child, Tenzin was drawn to the temple. His curiosity came out in the form of many questions posed to the village monks and visiting pilgrims. The elder monks, seeing his earnest desire for knowledge, began to guide him in the basic teachings of mindfulness and compassion.

One day, as Tenzin explored the village outskirts, he encountered a wandering monk named Kelsang. The old monk, with a flowing white beard and eyes that sparkled with ancient wisdom, recognized something special in Tenzin. Kelsang saw in the young boy a kindred spirit yearning for a deeper understanding of life.

Over a simple meal of tsampa and butter tea, Kelsang shared his own journey to enlightenment. He spoke of the challenges he faced, the lessons he learned, and the joy that accompanied a life devoted to mindfulness and compassion. Tenzin hung on to every word.

In that moment, Tenzin decided to become a monk like Kelsang. Kelsang offered to guide him to the monastery high in the mountains. Tenzin’s parents knew they would miss their son, and Tenzin knew he’d miss them, but they recognized the calling within Tenzin and gave him their permission to start the journey.

Under the guidance of Kelsang, Tenzin made the difficult hike to the monastery, where he was welcomed with open arm. 

Tenzin focused back on the present moment, waking in the monastery. He stretched, yawned, and noticed that his friend, Lhakpa, hadn’t awoken yet.

“Hey, it’s time to get up!” Tenzin said, shaking Lhakpa’s shoulder. 

“Ok, ok,” Lhakpa said groggily. His head was shaved just like Tenzin’s and the other boys.  

“I’m getting up.” Their other friend, Sonam, was already up, getting dressed and preparing for the day. 

Together, they walked across the hard wood floor to the dining room where other boys sat around a low table on the floor. They enjoyed a simple breakfast of tsampa, a traditional Tibetan staple made from roasted barley flour. As Tenzin ate, he listened to the rhythmic chants of the monks from the nearby monastery, a sound that echoed through the valley like a soothing melody. After his meal, Tenzin and his friends headed to the temple where he would spend the day learning the way of mindfulness and meditation.

The temple, perched on the mountainside, overlooked the village below. Its weathered stones and ancient prayer wheels told stories of generations seeking wisdom and enlightenment. The temple’s exterior was adorned with intricate carvings depicting scenes from Buddhist scriptures. Tibetan prayer flags, vibrant and fluttering, adorned the eaves, imbuing the air with a sense of sacredness. A pair of heavy wooden doors, marked the entrance. Above them, a gilded canopy sheltered a trio of prayer wheels, waiting to be set in motion by the touch of a devoted pilgrim. 

Together, the boys entered the temple with a sense of reverence and anticipation. Inside, the air was thick with the earthy scent of incense. The flickering butter lamps cast dancing shadows on the walls, creating a setting of peace and tranquility. Their teacher, Lama Dorje awaited them. He was a wise and gentle monk with a flowing red robe. His head was shaved like the boys, his eyes were dark and piercing, and he always had a smile of his face. Lama Dorje lived the teachings of compassion and patience. His goal was to guide the minds of the young boys toward the path of enlightenment.

The morning rituals began with prostrations, a humble gesture expressing devotion and humility. Tenzin, Lhakpa, and Sonam bowed to the images of Buddha, their bodies moving in a fluid rhythm. The repetitive motions served as a physical expression of their dedication to the spiritual journey ahead.

Following the prostrations, the boys engaged in mindful breathing exercises. Lama Dorje instructed them to focus on each in breath and out breath, grounding their minds in the present moment. Tenzin closed his eyes, feeling the cool mountain air fill his lungs. And as he exhaled, he released the any stress from within.

After the morning session, the boys gathered for a simple lunch of lentil soup and steamed vegetables. The act of eating itself became a practice in mindfulness, with every bite savored and appreciated. The boys shared stories and laughter, fostering a sense of friendship that would support them on their spiritual journey.

In the afternoon, the boys explored the temple’s garden. Colorful flowers decorated the landscape, and the smell of blooming jasmine filled the air. They stood still and listened to the gentle rustling of leaves and distant chants from the temple. As they strolled along the winding paths, Tenzin embraced the beauty of the moment around them, practicing what he learned every day about fully living in the moment and appreciating what was happening in the now.

The boys walked a little further to the center of the garden to a Bodhi tree. This was the same type of tree Buddha was said to have received enlightnment. Under the shade of the Bodhi tree, Lama Dorje guided the boys in walking meditation. With each step, they connected with the earth beneath them, giving them a deep sense of gratitude for the interconnectedness of all life.

As the sun dipped below the towering mountains of Tibet, the boys returned to the temple for the evening session. Lama Dorje led them in a chanting ritual, the vibrations of the bell and their voices resonating through the ancient walls. The words carried prayers for the well-being of all living beings, the core Buddhist belief in compassion.

The day ended with a meditation session overlooking the majestic mountains. The boys sat in silent contemplation, their minds settling like a calm mountain lake. The fading sunlight painted the landscape in shades of lavender and indigo.

As they opened their eyes, Lama Dorje shared a simple yet profound teaching: “In the stillness of the mind, one finds the path to enlightenment. Embrace each moment with gratitude, for it is a step closer to understanding the nature of existence.”

Tenzin and his friends left the temple that evening with hearts full of inspiration. The teachings of mindfulness and compassion had taken root in their young minds, shaping the foundation for a life dedicated to the pursuit of inner peace and enlightenment.

In the quiet of the night, Tenzin stood on the temple balcony, gazing at the starlit sky above the mountains of Tibet. The vastness of the universe matched the depth of his new understanding. The journey was long, but with each step, Tenzin walked a path illuminated by the wisdom of the ancient teachings, a path that led to the serenity of the mind and the boundless compassion within the heart.

The post Finding Peace: A Buddhist Monk’s Journey appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

With a deep breath, Jackie leaps off the building, defying gravity as he soars through the air. Time seems to slow down as he executes a flip and slides down a rooftop.

As Jackie lands safely on the top of a moving truck. The satisfaction of nailing the stunt fills his veins, reminding him why he has dedicated his life to this craft. But there is no time to rest, the movie demands more. He swings himself into the front seat of the truck and continues a thrilling car chase through a narrow alleyway the final climactic fight scene against his most dangerous enemy.

With unwavering determination, Jackie embraces each challenge, pushing himself to the limit. He throws himself into fight scenes with unmatched energy, combining his martial arts skills with a touch of humor that makes audiences fall in love with him. Every punch, every kick is meticulously executed, leaving no room for error.

Being Jackie Chan in a blockbuster movie means embracing fear, defying gravity, and giving everything for the sake of entertainment. It is a journey filled with adrenaline, skill, and an unwavering dedication to creating movie magic. And for Jackie, there is no greater reward than seeing his hard work and breathtaking stunts come to life on the big screen, inspiring generations to chase their dreams, just as he has.

Kong-sang Chan, later known as Jackie Chan, was born on April 7, 1954,  in Hong Kong, China to Charles and Lee-Lee. At the time his parents were a cook and a housekeeper. They were poor at the time and worked for a French diplomat and lived in a small house in the back of his house. From a young age, Kong-sang’s father taught him to exercise and practice martial arts. Kung Fu was the popular martial arts style where he lived and used lots of kicks and acrobatic movements. Because they were poor, Kong-sang and his father had to find simple ways to exercise rather than going to a typical dojo.

Kong-sang struggled in school. He didn’t like to sit still and often got in trouble when he got restless. He often got into fights in his neighborhood and at school. Instead, he wanted to be outside and play which is natural for children! Fortunately, Kong-sang’s parents were attentive to his needs and started looking at other options for his school. They found a nearby school called The Chinese Drama Academy, which prepared students for Chinese opera and might be a good fit for a more active child like Kong-sang.

Kong-sang was surprised when he visited the school. Rather than sitting at desks and doing traditional school work, children at this school were doing kung fu and dancing around during the day. Kong-sang thought it looked like a pretty good school and his parents decided to enroll him for ten years! Little did Kong-sang know, what a challenge the Chinese Drama Academy would be! The masters of the school were very strict. Some of the kids made fun of him. He had to sleep on the floor at night and during the day they worked his body very hard. Every minute of the day they were busy running, kicking, punching, doing handstands, and cleaning. When students misbehaved, they got hit with a stick. And to Kong-sang’s surprise, he still had to do schoolwork on top of it all! 

Kong-sang missed his parents and only saw his mother once a week. Life at the Chinese Drama Academy was very hard, but he was determined to stick it out. When he saw other children performing on stage and being applauded, he wanted to work hard, be just like them, and get the same attention. Eventually, he got to perform on a stage and received his first role in a film called Big and Little Wong Tin Bar. 

By the time Kong-sang graduated from The Chinese Drama Academy, the opera wasn’t as popular so he knew his best would be to find a job in the movie industry. He auditioned to be a stuntman and got his first job. A stuntman is used in movies to do the dangerous work that actors avoid so they don’t get hurt. They might jump out of moving cars, off tall buildings, or take a punch to make the action look more realistic. Over time, Kong-sang got better and better at being a stuntman, but his real dream was to be a movie star not just someone who did the difficult work but that no one recognized. His next job was a stunt coordinator who helped direct all of the stunts. 

Finally, he got his first chance and was given a small role in a movie called Hand of Death. It wasn’t a big role, but it gave him hope that someday he might be a big star. He dreamed that he might be as popular as Bruce Lee, the most famous Chinese kung fu movie star. Unfortunately, movies weren’t as popular at that time in China and Kong-sang had to move to Australia where his parents now lived. He worked many different jobs to support himself. At one job, instead of using his real name, he introduced Kong-sang as “Jack.” His co-workers started calling him “Jackie.” 

Around this time – we’ll call him Jackie now – got a message from Hong Kong asking him to come back and star in a new movie, a remake of Bruce Lee’s Fists of Fury. He would be paid well and best of all, he’d be a star and be acting! Jackie hurried back to Hong Kong and starred in the new movie. Jackie had all of the moves and could do all of the stunts, but he was different than Bruce Lee. He liked being funnier rather than serious. At this time, he wrote his own movie and starred in it. It was called Half a Load of Kung Fu. Rather than trying to be just like Bruce Lee, Jackie wanted to be his own kind of action hero: a funny one who the audience would be impressed by but also laugh at.

Jackie Chan’s first big movie using his own style was Snake in Eagle’s Shadow about a kung fu student who is better than his own master and learns his moves from an old man on the street. The movie was a huge hit! Jackie was happy to know audiences enjoyed his funny action-hero persona. Drunken Master was his next big hit turned him into a popular movie star all over China. 

Jackie’s next job took him to the United States, to film a new movie in Texas. Unfortunately, Jackie struggled with English and didn’t feel as comfortable acting because of the language and the style that which U.S. films were shot. Next, he returned to Hong Kong and was able to continue his acting as a celebrity there. 

In Hong Kong, Jackie continued acting and doing dangerous stunts. It was one of his favorite parts of the job even though it was very dangerous. During one stunt he fell from a 50-foot-tall clock tower, through two cloth awnings, and to the ground. Another time, he slid down a 21-story building. A few times he was hurt very badly, but Jackie continued acting and doing stunts because it was his passion and he didn’t care about the risks.

In 1995, Jackie took another shot at filming in Hollywood and his first breakout American film was Rumble in the Bronx. He did some dangerous stunts and plenty of kung fu, and the film became a big hit. His next big film was a buddy-cop movie starring alongside comedian Chris Tucker. The name of the film was Rush Hour and ended up being a huge hit earning over $140 million dollars. Jackie was finally a star in the United States as well as Asia. 

For the next several years, Jackie continued to film hits in Hollywood including a second and third Rush Hour movies, Shanghai Noon and Shanghai Knights with Owen Wilson, The Tuxedo, Around the World in 80 Days, a new Karate Kid film, and also did the voice for Master Monkey in Kung Fu Panda. 

Later, he also started a stunt school for aspiring young actors and started his own coffee shops, restaurants, theaters, clothing lines, and other businesses across Asia. 

Not only has Jackie become known for his acting, kung fu, and stunts, but also for his charitable donations around the world. He’s taken his success and with gratitude used it to help others in need, which includes building schools and curing illnesses.

Like Jackie, you can remember the importance of physical exercise. Even when Jackie was poor and didn’t have access to a real gym or sports clubs, he ran through the neighborhoods near his home, used heavy objects to strengthen his muscles, kicked, and practiced his acrobatics. You can work through hard things even when they are difficult and continue to practice whatever it is you are passionate about. Jackie of often turned to humor when life was hard and even though everyone wanted him to be like Bruce Lee, he found his own way in the world, a unique way of acting that he made his own. 

Take a moment and think about how you can apply what you’ve learned about Jackie Chan to your own life.

Jackie once said, “If everyone does some good, think of what a good world this will be.”

When asked how he accomplished great things, Jackie said, “I do small things. I try to do good things every day.”

And finally, “Do not let circumstances control you. You [can] change your circumstances.”

The post Jackie Chan Story for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Imagine a world where interesting creatures that have powers roam free, each with their own unique abilities and personalities that you can catch and keep in a little red and white ball. These creatures are called Pokemon and you keep them in a poke ball. As a young trainer, you set out on an adventure to explore this world and catch as many of these creatures as you can, traveling through different regions, each with its own unique environment and different types of Pokemon.

You’ll journey through lush forests, treacherous mountains, and even mysterious underwater kingdoms, encountering new and exciting Pokemon along the way. With your trusty poke ball, you’ll be able to capture these creatures and add them to your team, training them to be stronger and braver so that they can fight for you.

As you travel, you’ll meet other trainers and their Pokemon, and you’ll have the chance to challenge them to battles. These battles are a test of your skills as a trainer and a showcase of the strength and abilities of your Pokemon. You’ll have to strategize and work with your Pokemon, using their different moves and powers to defeat your opponents.

Along the way, you’ll also have the opportunity to collect valuable items and earn rewards, such as gym badges and special items that will make your journey easier. You’ll meet friendly and helpful characters who will give you tips and advice on how to become a better trainer.

But your ultimate goal is to become the greatest Pokémon trainer of all time. To achieve this, you’ll need to journey to the Pokemon League, where the strongest trainers from each region come together to compete in the ultimate test of their skills. You’ll have to defeat each gym leader, earning their badges along the way, and then face off against the Elite Four and the Pokemon Champion. Only then will you be able to call yourself the greatest Pokémon trainer of all time!

So pack your bags, grab your poke ball, and embark on an adventure through the history of Pokemon with us today!

—————————————

Let’s travel back in time to the early 1980s,  in a place called Setagaya, Tokyo, where there was a boy named Satoshi Tajirwhen. Satoshi loved catching bugs and collecting them as a hobby when he was young. His friends even called him “Dr. Bug”!  As Satoshi grew up in the bustling city of Tokyo, he noticed that the spaces where he used to hunt for bugs were disappearing as more and more land was being covered by streets and buildings. But Satoshi didn’t want to lose the feeling of catching and collecting creatures, and he dreamed of a way to bring that same joy to other kids.

As he got older, Satoshi became fascinated with arcade games and spent many hours playing them. His love for games like Space Invaders and Dig Dug inspired him to create his own video games. Satoshi took apart his video game system to understand how it worked, and even won a video game idea contest when he was 16 years old! 

Satoshi’s love for video games never went away even though his parents thought he was a troublemaker for spending so much time playing them. He even cut classes to play games. Ove time he made up for it by attending make-up classes and eventually earning his high school diploma. 

Instead of going to college, Satoshi attended a two-year technical degree program at the Tokyo National College of Technology, where he studied electronics and computer science. 

When Satoshi became a little older he made a special magazine that he would write by hand and staple together called “Game Freak”. Game Freak was a magazine that had tips and tricks on how to beat games and find hidden secrets in them. A hidden secret in a game is called an “Easter Egg”. The magazine became so popular that one magazine sold over 10,000 copies! Satoshi’s friend Ken Sugimori was the person who drew the pictures in the magazine, this is called an illustrator. As the two of them wrote this magazine they realized that most video games weren’t very good. So, they decided to make their own games instead! Tajiri learned how to make games by studying and practicing a lot. Finally, in 1989, Tajiri and his friend Sugimori started their own video game company called Game Freak. Their very first game, Quinty, was a big hit and they never looked back!

After several years of developing games for different consoles,  Satoshi Tajirwhen and his friend Ken Sugimori,  decided to talk about  their idea to Nintendo for a game about collecting monsters. The idea was a hit, but it wasn’t easy to convince Nintendo to take a chance on something so unique. Thanks to their previous successes, Game Freak was given the “OK” to develop the game under the help and mentorship of Shigeru Miyamoto. Shigeru Miyamoto was the creator of Super Mario, a video game about an Italian plumber who crawls through green pipes and collects gold coins while trying to save the princess Daisy from the evil Bowser!

Satoshi worked long hard hours on his video games and in an interview once he was asked why he looked so tired and he responded by saying, “I sleep 12 hours and then work 24 hours. I’ve worked those strange hours for the past three years. It’s better to stay up day and night to come up with ideas. I usually get inspiration for game designing by working this schedule.”

After 6 years of long hours and a lot of hard work the world was introduced to Pocket Monsters: Red and Green, the very first Pokémon video games. These games allowed players to catch, collect, and trade over 150 different Pokémon characters. It was an instant hit in Japan, and soon the game was spreading to other parts of the world.

So what is Pokemon? In the world of Pokemon, people known as Pokemon trainers catch and train creatures called Pokemon. Pokemon are fictional animals with unique abilities and characteristics. The trainers then battle their Pokemon against other trainers to determine who is the strongest.

The games and cartoon series follow a young trainer named Ash Ketchum and his journey to become a Pokemon Master. In Japan instead of Ash the main character’s name is Satoshi. If you remember, Satoshi is the creator of Pokemon, so Ash was supposed to be Satoshi when he was a little kid. He travels through different regions, catching and training new Pokemon, making friends and rivals along the way, and participating in many competitions and battles.

When the first Pokemon video games were released in Japan they were an instant success. In the games, players take on the role of a Pokemon trainer, starting with one Pokemon and traveling around the game world to catch and train more. There are now over 800 different species of Pokemon, each with their own unique abilities, strengths, and weaknesses, that’s a lot of Pokemon to catch!

The thought of catching and training creatures was completely new, and the game offered a sense of adventure and discovery that was unlike anything players had experienced before. The games quickly gained popularity and as Pokemon grew in popularity, it expanded into TV shows, movies, and card games. Kids everywhere were obsessed with the world of Pokémon, and it wasn’t just a game anymore – it became extremely popular and well-known to the point where almost everyone knows about it and it ended up having a big impact on things like movies, TV shows, toys, and games. 

The TV show followed the adventures of Ash Ketchum, a young trainer from Pallet Town, and his trusty Pikachu as they journeyed through different regions, encountering new Pokemon and battling against other trainers.

The success of the TV show led to a boom in the sale of Pokemon merchandise, such as toys, trading cards, and other products. 

One of the main reasons that Pokemon became successful was because the games were designed to be played with friends, and the trading and battling parts of the games encouraged players to connect and compete with one another. 

Over the years, the Pokemon franchise has continued to evolve and expand and Satoshi and Ken’s vision for Pokémon has inspiring a generation of young people to explore the world around them, make new friends, and be creative. Today, Pokemon continues to evolve and grow, offering new adventures and exciting experiences for fans of all ages. And so, the story of Pokémon continues, with new games, new creatures, and new experiences waiting just around the corner.

Just like in a Pokemon battle, we all have strengths and weaknesses. It’s important to remember that everyone is different, and that’s what makes us special. Just because someone is strong in one area doesn’t mean they’re better than someone else. We should respect and appreciate each other’s differences, and work together to achieve our goals. 

More recently, in 2016, the game Pokemon Go was released. It introduced many new gamers to an augmented reality version of Pokemon in which you can walk around the real world and see and catch Pokemon through your handheld device. Pokemon Go became very popular as well and is still played by many gamers today.

Pokemon Poem by Chat GPT: 

In a world of monsters big and small,

There’s a little creature loved by all.

It’s called a Pokemon, have you heard?

It’s captured hearts all around the world.

There’s Pikachu, with cheeks so bright,

And Charmander, all red and white.

Squirtle, Bulbasaur, and so many more,

Each one unique, you can’t ignore.

With special powers and moves to make,

Pokemon battles are never fake.

You’ve got to train and work real hard,

To become the best, to go far.

But even if you don’t compete,

You can collect and make them neat.

Trading cards and figures too,

Pokemon fun is endless, it’s true.

So join the craze, and catch ’em all,

You’ll have a blast, you’ll have a ball.

Adventure awaits, in the great outside.

With Pokemon there, right by your side,

The post History of Pokemon appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Did you know there is one more amazing celebration around this time of year?  It’s called the Chinese New Year – or in other countries the Spring Festival or Lunar New Year.  The celebration is based on the rotation of the sun and moon, and begins on the first new moon that appears between January 21 and February 20, so that means the date changes every year.  In 2023, this festival will be celebrated on January 22.

This festival is truly amazing, with lots of history and symbolism.  There are moonlight monsters, delicious dumplings, and shiny paper pouches filled with money.  So come along with me as we learn more about the Chinese New Year in 2023, the year of the rabbit.  

First, you may be wondering: what is the year of the rabbit?  Well, the Chinese use 12 different animals to mark different years.  It’s called the Chinese Zodiac and their zodiac animals are: the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig.  In 2023, it is the year of the rabbit.  A rabbit is very fertile, so it has lots of family members and loves to cuddle with its rabbit family.  Therefore, this year will be a year of homecoming, of reconnecting with family and friends, as well as for fresh starts and new beginnings.  That sounds good to me!

The Chinese New Year is celebrated in many places around the world, not only China.  It is also celebrated in Tibet, Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and other places.  And as people move around the world, they take their customs with them.  Now Asian populations in the US, Canada, Europe, Australia, Peru, New Zealand, and South Africa enjoy this amazing festival.  Just as Santa Claus was brought to the US by folks in Europe, Chinese customs have traveled the world with people from Asia!  So, let’s learn more!

The Chinese New Year is held to celebrate the coming of Spring, when the sun starts its new cycle and the days become longer.  People get ready for this festival by cleaning and sweeping their homes – which symbolizes getting rid of old evils and welcoming new luck.  They need to make sure to put away their brooms and dustpans before New Year’s Day, though, or it is believed they will sweep away their newly-arrived good luck!  Next, they hang red paper pictures and poems on their windows and doors with themes like wealth, happiness, and good luck.  They may hand out coins on red strings or in red envelopes.  They may even put a fresh coat of red paint on their windows and doors.  But why red?  

Well, red is believed to be the color of joy – a lot like our Valentine’s Day showing red roses, red hearts on cards, and blushing red cheeks on little cupids.  It is also said to symbolizes truth, virtue, and sincerity. In Chinese opera, if a character has a painted red face, it generally means the person is holy, loyal, or a great emperor. Also in China, the sound of the word “red” is similar to the word “prosperous.”  So, red is a very special color in Asian cultures.

Plus, there are some neat legends regarding the color red and a monster named Sui – or Nian. One legend states that once there was an elderly couple who had a sweet son.  They were scared that the monster Sui would come to their house on New Year’s Eve to scare their child, so they tried to keep the boy awake by rattling copper coins.  The boy soon tired and fell asleep.  To protect their son from Sui while he slept, the parents put the copper coins in a red envelope under his pillow.  Suddenly, the doors and windows blew open and Sui appeared.  Sui reached out to touch the boy’s head, but the bright coins inside the envelope lit up and scared Sui away.  

Another legend states that the monster Sui used to roam a village in China thousands of years ago and scare all the people.  Many brave warriors tried to kill Sui but could not.  Finally, a young orphan boy with a golden sword stepped forward and said he would battle Sui.  He fought bravely and killed the monster.  The villagers were so happy that they gave him coins in red bags. 

A third legend states that there once was a mythical beast called Nian who lived under the mountains or the seas and would roam around villages in the middle of the night.^[21] One night, all the villagers decided to leave their homes and hide from the beast – all except for one man.  That night, the man set up red paper lanterns around the village and lit firecrackers.  When the villagers returned the next day, their village had not been destroyed by Nian, so they thought that Nian must be afraid of loud noises and the color red.  Every year thereafter, people wore red clothes during the Chinese New Year, lit fireworks, banged drums, hung red lanterns, and put red on their windows and doors – and Nian never returned.  And maybe this is why we see colorful dragons in Chinese parades – maybe it is the mythical creature Sui or Nian and all the loud music is played to scare him away!  I think those are some pretty neat traditions and legends!

Besides cleaning house, lighting fireworks, and putting coins in red envelopes, folks also like to make delicious dumplings.  And why dumplings?  Well, they look like round coins, which signify wealth and prosperity – plus they are delicious!  Just like in other countries on New Year’s eve where people eat round fruit, symbolizing coins and wealth, Asian families eat round dumplings!  Plus, in the olden days, they sometimes put a coin inside a dumpling and whoever found it was said to have good luck in the new year.  Today, they like to put other things in their dumplings, such as candy for sweet days, dates for a flourishing year, or a piece of nian gao, a rice cake, for a rich life.  

And you may also see pretty red pictures or symbols, called Fu characters, in a diamond shape hung upside down on the outside of stores and homes.  We now know the reason for the color red, but why hang them upside down?  Well, the word for “upside down” in Chinese sounds very similar to the word for “arrive” – so they believe these upside pictures will bring good luck, wealth, and happiness to their door.  But for Cantonese people, the word upside down sounds similar to “pour away.”  They think that if you hang something upside down, you will pour away your good luck – so they hang things right side up!  Gosh, I wouldn’t know HOW to hang my pictures on Chinese New Year – would you?

There are even more customs, like when to get your hair cut on Chinese New Year.  If they want to have a haircut for the holiday, they need to do it before New Year’s Day or it is considered bad luck.  Why?  Well, in China, the word for “hair” sounds like the word “prosperity”, so they certainly don’t want to cut off any hair – or wealth – on New Year’s Day!  

In homes that follow Buddhism or Taoism, they clean their alters and statues, then burn the year’s paper decorations a week before New Year’s.  Why?  This is thought to send the year’s good luck up to heaven.  They then put up new decorations.  They may also burn a picture of Zao Jun, the Kitchen God, who is said to record all the family’s deeds during the year.  It is hoped that by burning his picture, he will take a record of the family’s deeds to the god known as the Jade Emperor.  They may even put out sweets and candies as a little bribe to the Kitchen God so he will only report the good things to the Jade Emperor.  This is like American homes where children put out cookies and milk in hopes that Santa will be happy and leave presents!  We do this because we know he has a naughty and nice list!  

And before the big feast on New Year’s Eve, a prayer of thanksgiving is said for the past year, as well as prayers sent up for ancestors.  This is very similar to Thanksgiving in America.  A big meal is eaten, then niangao, or New Year’s Cake, is served and pieces of it are also sent to friends and family.  Delicious dumplings are eaten at midnight to bring wealth and good luck in the new year.

This all sounds amazing!  But there’s more!  New Year’s celebrations don’t just last for 1 day – they may go on for 15 days with different events on different days, like eating special foods, lighting fireworks, giving gifts, or making offerings to the gods.  On the 15^th day in China and Malaysia, it is a day for single ladies to write their name and number on mandarin oranges and throw them into a lake or river.  Men will pick these fruits out of the water and eat them. The taste of the orange will indicate whether a possible love connection will be sweet or sour.  

So, what do you think of all these amazing legends, foods, and customs?  Is there one you would like to try, like handing out coins in red envelopes, eating dumplings, or throwing oranges in a river?  Maybe you would like to research the animals in the Chinese Zodiac to find your Chinese animal based on your date of birth.  What does that animal say about your future?  Does it differ from your astrological sign?  Maybe your parents can help you with this research – it would be a fun family project to learn everyone’s Zodiac sign!

I’d like to hear about your Zodiac sign and what you think it might mean about you. Or if you celebrate Chinese New Year, use the form link in the notes to tell me your favorite tradition.

Whatever your Zodiac animal, feast, or decorations this Chinese New Year, from my house to yours, I wish you a year ahead filled with health, happiness, and prosperity!

The post Chinese New Year for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Imagine you are walking through the forest…

Imagine you are walking along a path in the forest.  Around you are beautiful mountains covered with lush green trees.  You see tall bamboo trees and birds in the sky. Nearby is a small mountain village where families are cooking dinner and playing in common areas.  As you walk further along the path toward the mountain range, you suddenly look up and see a gigantic stone wall cutting through the forest. You place your hands on it and look up. It is incredibly high. When you look left and right you see that it stretches in both directions as far as your eye can see.  You are at one of the most famous structures in the world: the Great Wall of China! 

The Great Wall of China was built over 2,000 years ago and runs more than 13,000 miles across northern China.  But why was this wall built?  And how has it lasted so long?

Emperor Chin Shi Huang

The Great Wall of China was constructed by Emperor Chin Shi Huang in the 3rd century B.C.  Well actually, parts of the wall were built earlier than that and it is doubtful that Emperor Chin did any of the actual construction work himself.  

Emperor Chin united a number of different independent states in China and was the first emperor to unite all of these different communities together as one Chinese country.  This happened around 220 B.C.  Before that, there were many different kingdoms throughout China and different groups of people living on their own.  The land that the Chinese people lived on was very fertile. Fertile means the land is good for growing lots of food. Over time, the people that lived in the area started to farm and grow crops.  As more people farmed the land, they needed to create systems of order and government to help manage the land and how it was used.  

Warring States Period

At this time, Chinese people developed and irrigated fields and grew crops near the Yellow River valley. Farming large areas of land required people to work together and form a government to work the land peacefully.  That is why the Chinese formed one empire and also built walls around them to protect their communities against attacks by the nomads.  Nomads mean someone who doesn’t live in one place but moves from place to place. The nomads didn’t farm, but instead moved around and herded animals. They used the food from these animals to survive. They also hunted instead of staying in one place and farming. 

Since the nomads needed to move with the animals, they had a completely different type of society and order. They needed to hunt animals or trade for them.  This led to the nomads trading with the Chinese or in many cases attacking them. 

The nomadic tribes often came into contact with the Chinese farmers.  Sometimes it was friendly and they would trade with each other.  But often, they did not get along.  The nomadic people wanted to use the farmland to hunt and move around, but the farm people wanted more land to farm. This led to battles between the farmers and the nomads.  The farming kingdoms also often fought each other for control of different territories. This is why this period of history in China is known as the “Warring States Period.”

To help avoid attacks, many of the kingdoms built walls to defend themselves.  The walls were made out of rocks and compacted dirt that was tamped very tightly to form the structure.  These walls were shorter versions of the Great Wall of China that were later built.  They stretched between the border of different regions and often included towers, block houses for soldiers, and beacons to send smoke signals.

When Emperor Chin became emperor, he wanted to put a stop to the fighting between different farming kingdoms.  He declared that all of these kingdoms were now part of one country called China.  But the nomadic people that lived outside the area didn’t care about this.  They continued to attack the farming areas. 

Imperial Order

To help stop these attacks and to continue to unite the new country, the Emperor ordered that the walls between different states be removed and that the shorter walls that existed along the northern border of China be joined together to form one long wall.  Emperor Qin thought that this would also help protect them against attacks from the north where China’s biggest enemy lived — Mongolia. The Mongolians were fierce fighters and very dangerous to the Chinese.

Construction

The project of building the Great Wall was a huge task requiring a lot of work.  Emperor Qin ordered his army to work on the wall, so much of it was constructed by soldiers.  But they needed even more workers to get the job done.  So Emperor Qin ordered that prisoners work on the wall as well.  This is called “forced labor,” which is when someone is forced to do a job without getting paid. It was hard work and estimated that around 400,000 workers died while building the wall.  

Conditions were probably very difficult due to the long stretches of mountains and desert where the Wall was built.  Today, there are some areas of the Great Wall where no one lives because the conditions are so difficult and there are some parts where the winters are so cold that no one goes there in the winter.  Can you imagine having to work on building a large wall in those conditions?

Manual Labor

Because much of the wall is built with rammed earth, most of the materials that they used to build the wall could be found right where they were building it.  However, some additional supplies and workers had to travel a far way to get to the wall. This made construction even more difficult. Sometimes the young men that were forced to build the wall had to haul boats loaded with baggage upstream in rivers in order to bring food to the workers.  The work was so hard that many people tried to escape and sneak away back to the city or to their hometowns.  Many individuals died in the wilderness trying to escape because the conditions were hard to survive and the journey home was so long. 

Eventually, people living in the newly united China started to revolt against the Qin dynasty.  To revolt means to fight against and overthrow.  Emperor Qin was a strict ruler and not everyone agreed with his rules. As Emperor Qin lost the support of the Chinese people over time, there were fewer and fewer soldiers that were willing to go out to work on the wall.  They stopped listening to his orders and as a result, the construction of the wall slowed down. 

Construction Continues

Later Chinese rulers carried on the construction and eventually the wall was finished.  This included the Han, Sui, Northern, Jin, and Ming Dynasties.  Each repaired, rebuilt or expanded the wall.  During the Ming Dynasty, major rebuilding work took place and sections of the wall that were originally built with dirt were replaced with bricks and stone instead.  These new materials helped the wall to last longer in good shape. 

One of the first mentions of a wall built against northern invaders is found in a poem, dated the seventh century BC.  It is recorded in the ancient Chinese book of Classic Poetry. 

In 221 BC, when Qin Shi Huang united the Chinese states, the walls were known as “Changcheng” which literally means “long walls”.  The walls were mostly constructed of tamped earth, which some parts built with stones. Where natural barriers, like ravines and rivers, worked enough for defense, the walls were erected sparingly.  Often in addition to the wall, defensive systems like garrisons and beacon towers were built inside the wall, and watchtowers were on the outside at regular intervals. 

Unfortunately the Great Wall never totally prevented invaders from coming into China.  It was a useful way to stop raids.  But at several points throughout its history, the Great Wall failed to stop enemies.  This included in 1644 when the Manchu Qing marched through the gates of Shanhai Pass and replaced the Ming dynasty as the new rulers of China.  But the Great Wall came to be seen as a symbol of the ongoing power and strength of the Chinese civilization. 

Genghis Khan

Eventually, the Chinese were forced to move back from the northern part of China when the Mongolian people attacked the north and conquered and took control of China.  The Mongols were led by Genghis Khan, a famous, violent leader. The Mongols didn’t need the Great Wall as much as the Chinese had in the past, but they assigned soldiers to man the wall in order to protect merchants and travelers traveling along the Silk Road trade routes. 

Eventually, the Ming Dynasty took control of the area again.  During the Ming Dynasty, the Ming rules were very strong leaders, and Chinese culture grew stronger. They built a lot of additional parts of the Great Wall including bridges, temples, and pagodas.  Pagodas are like western gazebos or covered areas that people can sit under.

Conclusion

Between the 18th and 20th centuries, the Great Wall became the most common symbol of China for the Western world. Today, the Great Wall is generally recognized as one of the most impressive building feats in human history. In 1987, UNESCO, an international heritage organization, designated the Great Wall a World Heritage site.  At the time, it was the only man-made structure that could be visible from space!

In modern times, thousands of tourists visit the Great Wall of China.  The most popular part of the wall and the most famous is called Badaling.  It runs 43 miles northwest of Beijing.  Would you like to see the Great Wall of China one day?  If you do, think of all of the people that worked to build and maintain the wall throughout time.  Walking along the Great Wall of China, you will surely be walking along part of history!

Check out these great books!

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Do you live in a big city? Or do you live in a small town? Or do you live far away from everyone else? I grew up in a medium-sized town, but it always fascinates me to visit big cities. It’s amazing to see a city be able to function with so many people in such a small area. For example, if you visit one of the biggest cities in the United States like New York, many people live and work in skyscrapers, which reach very high into the sky. They do this so more people can fit within a small geographical area. And usually, everything you need to survive such as grocery stores is nearby. If you grew up in a small town, you may have lots of space but also have to drive a little further for groceries.

Before Cities

Have you ever wondered how big cities came to be? Throughout human history, cities didn’t always exist. If you were to travel back into history 10,000 years ago most people lived in small tribes or communities and either hunted and gathered or farmed a small area of land. Even for many years before farming early humans moved often, hunting animals for or gathering nuts and seeds, and berries for survival. It was a pretty hard life! They were always on the move because once the animals and other food in the area were gone, they had to be on their way. They lived in shelters or caves and did whatever they could to just barely get by. It’s hard to imagine, but humans lived this way for a VERY, VERY long time. Just think about that a moment and then think of where we are today. How did that change happen? It has taken about 12,000 years. Big changes in history often take time.

Early Farming

But eventually, these humans who hunted and gathered food for a living figured out ways to plant seeds to grow their own food! It seems obvious how to go about it today but it wasn’t for them. But once they did figure this out, instead of always having to move they could stay in one place and plant wheat and harvest it, which means to cut it down, then turn it into something like bread to eat. They also figured out new ways of watering their crops using irrigation. Irrigation is digging a ditch from a stream or river to their farms. Domesticating animals was another way they survived. Domesticating means to keep animals in an enclosed area and grow the group of animals so they didn’t have to hunt them. Animals such as goats, pigs, and cows were domesticated. So over time some humans moved less and were able to live in small towns living off their farms and animals in the same place. This is often called the Neolithic Age, which means New Stone Age.

In some areas of the world, these small communities began to grow into larger ones. This usually happened because they lived in an area with lots of water, like a river, and very good soil. Good soil made their crops grow and gave them more food. There was also lots of fish to eat and fresh water for drinking. It was easy to move around using the river and easy to trade with other towns. For these reasons and others, the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East was a popular area for humans to settle 10,000 years ago. It was called The Fertile Crescent because it’s shaped like a crescent or moon. It has fertile, or good, soil because of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers that flow around it. 

First settlements

People in these areas settled down and soon many people were making lots of food and living nearby each other. The amazing thing about humans is when many humans are living and working nearby each other and putting their minds together, they share ideas, and come up with new ideas about how to solve problems! This is what happened in the Fertile Crescent. People became better at farming, better at domesticating animals, and soon figured out better ways to build things like pots for their food and bricks for their homes. They shaped clay into stronger bowls. This is called pottery. Bricks were made using clay and mud and other materials and then cooked in the sun or hot furnace to make them rock hard. 

Eventually, their homes changed from small huts to strong brick buildings that didn’t fall over as easily. They built buildings to keep their grain safe. They built beautiful temples to their gods. They built walls to keep their cities safe. Other humans who were still hunting and gathering and on the move saw the nice things of the city and wanted to take them. The people of the cities designed better weapons and better walls to protect themselves from these tribes and from other cities. 

Sumerians of the Fertile Crescent

In the Fertile Crescent in a region called Mesopotamia, many of these big cities grew very, very big. These people are often called the Sumerians, but they lived in many different cities with names such as Eridu, Uruk, Kish, Ur, and Akkad. Some of these cities had tens of thousands of people living in them, which was huge at the time! In the center of each of the cities was a gigantic temple. There the priests who ran the city lived and worked. Big cities required many people to make decisions and keep track of all of the work that needed to be done. They traded items with nearby cities and began to keep track of their money and other goods by using sticks to make marks on clay tablets. This early version of writing was called cuneiform.

As people in cities put their heads together they became better at shaping metals, too. This is called metallurgy. Very hot fires were created in furnaces and used to extract and mold the metal. Advances in metallurgy led to what is called The Bronze Age. Bronze was a very hard metal made from combining tin and copper. Bronze gave them stronger tools, made stronger bowls, vehicles such as chariots, and weapons when needed. This is also the time when the wheel became very popular and was used for carts and chariots, which made it much easier to move things around.  

Indus River Valley

The Sumerians weren’t the only people to build big cities during the Bronze Age. In what is now India, the people of the Indus River Valley built very impressive cities, too. Most big cities were very dirty and didn’t have clean water. You can imagine with all of the body waste that goes into toilets what a stinky and dirty place some big cities became. The people of Mohenjo-Doro recognized this problem and designed their city with canals on every street to move the dirty toilet water out and the clean water in. Their homes had clean water, bathtubs, and the city stayed very orderly and clean.

Two of the major cities were Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, which had around 30,000 people living there. The Harappans traded goods with the Sumerians and other nearby cities. They created their own beautiful style of pottery and used an early form of writing. Like the Sumerians, they made hard bricks by heating them in a fire and used these bricks and math to build their orderly cities. They dug deep into the earth to bring water up and into their homes. This is called a well. They found ways to store the water when there was lots of rain to use later. Unlike other cities, the Harappan people lived fairly equally and yet comfortably. The Indus River Valley people were very advanced for their time.

Yellow River Valley of China

Moving further east, in what is now China, the big cities formed around the Yellow River. Like the Tigris and Euphrates River, the Nile, and the Indus River, the Yellow River gave the people of China water to drink and often flooded to provide rich soil to plant their crops. Like the other cities, the Chinese learned how to mine deep in the earth and mined minerals such as tin and copper. They used these to make bronze, the very hard metal we talked about before. This gave them stronger tools, which helped them farm and mine and cut trees better. The ancient Chinese also developed their own form of writing and beautiful pottery. They wove better cloth for better clothing. Their cities slowly grew and became powerful in the area and with them came more inventions such as the compass, papermaking, the waterwheel, and gunpowder. Some of these technologies weren’t invented in Europe and other places in the world until a thousand years later.  

The Americas

Big cities weren’t only springing up in the Old World — China, the Near East, and India. Far across the ocean in the New World, the Americas, cities were popping up in areas like the Andes, which is modern-day Peru. These people also figured out how to plant huge farms for food. These farms gave them enough food so not everyone had to be a farmer, but could become an expert at a craft like making pottery, making cloth, or different kinds of tools. Some of the people in the cities became very good at math and used their knowledge to build amazing buildings and roads that connected their cities. Others used their tall stone temples to study and create maps of the stars. This is called astronomy. 

Other places that saw growth at this time were Mesoamerica and of course, Egypt, which we’d love to get into but not in this episode. If you want to learn more about Ancient Egypt be sure to check out our episode about Pyramids.  

Take a moment to think about how these places and people grew from small groups of farmers into major cities. Then think about the size of cities today. What is different about cities now? In what ways are they the same?  

Be sure to check out our related episodes about Mayan Civilization, Ancient Greece, Great Wall of China, and the Pyramids.

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Have you ever heard of Super Mario Brothers or the Legend of Zelda? Have you ever played these games on Nintendo? Nintendo is a household name across the world, but it didn’t start out that way. And most people don’t realize the Nintendo company has been around for over 100 years — long before video games were invented.

Early Beginnings of Nintendo

Our story begins in 1889 in the large city of Kyoto, Japan. In Kyoto lived a man named Fusajiro Yamauchi. Fusajiro had a wife and a daughter and was an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur is someone who has big ideas and starts new businesses. And Fusajiro had an idea to start his own shop to sell playing cards which were used to play a Japanese card game called “Hanafuda.” His playing cards were hand-painted and he decided to name his business “Nintendo Koppai.”

Fusajiro’s playing cards were very popular in Kyoto and soon he didn’t have enough time to paint all of the cards by hand. When an entrepreneur has this problem, which is a very good problem, he hires more people to help him — and this is exactly what Fusajiro did! He hired assistant and taught them how to paint playing cards like he did. With more playing cards to sell, the Nintendo company grew and grew until Fusajiro opened a new shop in Osaka.

For 40 years Fusajiro’s company grew and grew, they designed games other than Hanafuda and eventually became the largest playing card company in Japan. 

At the age of 70, Fusajiro retired and his adopted son-in-law became the new president. But little did Fusajiro realize what would become of his playing card company.

Hiroshi’s Contributions to Nintendo

In 1927 a boy named Hiroshi was born in the same city of Kyoto. When he was little parents were unable to take care of him, so he went to live with his grandparents. His grandfather was the President of Nintendo. Hiroshi started school when he was 12 and planned to go to college, but when World War II started he had to wait on college and instead worked in a factory making weapons for the war. When the war ended he started college to study law and was also married at that time.

In 1949 Hiroshi grandfather, the President of Nintendo died and Hiroshi was next in line, so he became the president of Nintendo. Hiroshi was only 22 and no one thought he’d be able to run the company. But he proved everyone wrong by being very firm and taking control of the company. And  he would go on to lead Nintendo and help it grow for the next 53 years! 

As the new President of the company, Hiroshi was interested in selling Nintendo playing cards in the United States. In the United States he made a deal with Disney to allow Nintendo to use Disney characters on their cards and eventually sold 600,000 packs in one year. With all of the new money coming in, Hiroshi began to look at new ways for Nintendo to make money. They tried many different ventures such as a taxi business, restaurants, and toy making. While many of the ideas failed, toy-making seemed to be their best bet. 

Gunpei and Nintendo’s Light Gun

One day while Hiroshi was in the factory, he noticed one of the engineers playing with a device he had built that could stretch out and grab things like a hand. The engineer’s name was Gunpei Yokoi and his normal job was to repair machines in the factory. But Hiroshi liked the device he built so much that he decided to turn it into a toy. They called it the “Ultra Arm” and sold over 1 million of them. With the Ultra Arm’s success, Hiroshi asked Gunpei to help design toys instead of work in the factory. Gunpei went on to design several other toys for Nintendo such as the first solar-powered light gun, later called the Nintendo Beam gun. 

In 1972 the American company Magnavox released one of the first home video game consoles and called it the Odyssey. Magnavox used Nintendo light guns with the Odyssey. Not long after the Odyssey’s release, Nintendo started creating its own arcade games using the light gun. Their most popular arcade was called The Laser Clay Shooting System. 

Shigeru Miyamoto and Donkey Kong

In 1977 Nintendo hired a young artist named Shigeru Miyamoto. Shigeru was born in Sonobe, Japan and from a young age loved exploring the natural world around his home, including forests, lakes and secret caves he found. He had a big imagination of loved to draw. He later went to college to become an artist. At Nintendo Shigeru did artwork for an arcade game called Sheriff and worked with Gunpei Yokoi, the designer of the “Ultra Arm” on other new games.

One of their big ideas involved a carpenter, his girlfriend, and a gorilla. The carpenter, also named Jumpman, ran up ramps and jumped over barrels the gorilla threw at him until he reached the girl at the top. When Sherigu finally decided on a name for Jumpman he named him “Mario” after the man who owned their building. They named their game Donkey Kong and it eventually it became one of the most famous video games of all time.

Nintendo and Gunpei Yokoi’s next big invention was a hand-held gaming device called the Game and Watch, which included a simple game and a clock. The Game and Watch was very popular and gave Nintendo more money to invent other new devices. Their next big device was called the Famicom (or Family Computer) and was their first gaming console. It sold over 500,000 units, but many of them had issues and had to be recalled from the stores.

This was very costly for Nintendo, but in 1985 they fixed the system and renamed it the Nintendo Entertainment System or NES. Nintendo was known for its quality games, which had to receive its stamp of approval before being released. The NES ended up becoming wildly popular in the United States. 

The Mario Brothers

Shigeru Miyamoto, the artist with the big imagination, also created Super Mario Brothers featuring his Mario character from Donkey Kong and added a brother named Luigi. They changed Mario from a carpenter to a plumber and gave him superhuman abilities. He could fall from any height and with his hat and thick mustache worked his way through a wild world full of fantastic monsters and underground sewage pipes. 

Legend of Zelda

Designing his next video game, Shigeru remember his childhood of adventure and wonder exploring the natural world around his home in Sonobe. He remembered finding a dark cave and exploring it along with the hillsides and lakes. He decided his next big game would try and capture that wonder he felt as a child. In his game The Legend of Zelda, an adventurous elf named Link would explore an open video game world in search of the Princess Zelda. The Legend of Zelda also became very popular and many sequels have been created under Shigeru’s direction. 

Enter the Gameboy

Nintendo’s next popular device was the Gameboy, designed by Gunpei Yokoi. It was a handheld device and was known for being sturdy with quality games like Tetris, Super Mario Land and Pokemon. The Game Boy eventually sold 118 million units!

SNES and the Wii

The next version of the Nintendo was called the Super Nintendo or SNES with new and improved graphics and a host of new games. At this time, Nintendo began to face competition from the Sega Genesis gaming system, which included wildly popular games like Sonic the Hedgehog. The Sony Playstation and later Microsoft’s Xbox gaming system also competed with Nintendo, which later released the Nintendo 64 with 3D graphics, the Game Boy Color, then the Game Cube and later the Nintendo DS, and Wii.

The Wii became the best selling game console of all time, selling 10 million units with hit games like Wii Sports, Super Mario Galaxy, and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Wii U was released next and finally its current console, the Nintendo Switch. Even with all of the new competition over the years,

Nintendo found ways to reinvent itself and make its game systems different. With the Wii, Nintendo invented the hand-held pointing devices or nunchucks. With the Switch it designed a console that could be played on the TV or on the go. Nintendo also continued to create wildly imaginative, colorful and family friendly game franchises such as Zelda, Mario Kart, Metroid, Star Fox, and Pokemon. 

In the end, Nintendo was successful due to the business sense of its President Hiroshi Yamauchi and the creativity of designers like Shigeru Miyamoto and Gunpei Yokoi.

Entrepreneurs

Would you like to be an entrepreneur some day? Remember an entrepreneur is someone who is creative and comes up with ideas for new businesses. If you’ve ever held a bake sell or sold lemonade you’re practicing the skills to become an entrepreneur. Remember, Fusajiro was an entrepreneur when he started his first playing card shop called Nintendo.

Do you like to draw or have a big imagination like Shigeru and Gunpei? If you created your own video game like Shigeru what would it be about? What would it look like? When you find the time, write out your ideas, draw a few pictures and plan out how it would work. Creativity, like other skills, requires practice. Take some time to think about how you can exercise your creativity muscles and invent imaginative worlds like Shigeru did with The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

The post History of Nintendo: Fusajiro Yamauchi, Hiroshi Yamauchi, Gunpei Yokoi and Shigeru Miyamoto For Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Close your eyes and imagine you’re in a beautiful forest. It’s late in the evening, and you’ve decided to take a calming walk through the trees. You see a shape moving through the trees ahead, rustling the leaves as it leans down to drink from a pond. The silvery moonlight bounces off its back, which you see is covered in shiny, white fur. Suddenly, the creature raises its head, and you gasp: there’s a horn right on top of its head, pointing directly up at the moon and glowing in the night. The creature gallops away before you can get any closer. You wander home in a daze, wondering if what you saw was real, or if you just dreamed it. 

Unicorns of the Past

Whether you believe in them or not, or like them or not, our history with unicorns goes back a lot farther than you might imagine. In fact, scientists have found fossils that look something like unicorns. Elasmotherium sibiricum lived in Siberia and Kazakhstan up through the last ice age, and had a giant horn on top of its head. Before you get too excited, I should mention that this animal did not look like a white pony with a slender, twisted horn and rainbow mane (sorry). Instead, it looked more like a giant, furry rhinoceros. It was about the size of an elephant: 4 meters long, nearly 2 meters tall, and weighing in at about  4 tons. Scientists used to think this creature went extinct over 300 thousand years ago, but a recent fossil find was dated to be about 29 thousand years old. There were humans wandering around Earth at this time, so maybe they saw these giant creatures. And just maybe, they began telling each other stories about the magnificent horned beasts. We can’t really be certain, but maybe those stories were passed down, and led to our modern idea of unicorns. 

Ancient Stories

But the unicorn would take on many different forms in stories before it came to look like a majestic white horse with a horn. Some of the very first artwork involving unicorns dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization. The Indus Valley Civilization flourished in what is now northwest India and Pakistan over 4,000 years ago. People in the Indus Valley Civilization made seals to stamp on things that belonged to them. These seals usually showed animals and also had mysterious writing on them. It was a bit like a signature. We still can’t read the writing, but many of the seals showed an animal that looked like an ox or an antelope with a single, curved horn in its head. Archeologists have also found small, clay figurines of these animals, with the horn coming up from between the eyes and curving forward. 

Mysterious Creatures

Some scholars think the unicorn creature is based on a real, two-horned type of cattle called an auroch that lived in the area. Others think it was based on a species of antelope. But maybe it was based on a mysterious creature that these people heard about in stories passed down by their grandparents, from their grandparents, and so on, back from a time that no one remembered anymore.

Legends and Unicorns

Many other ancient peoples had legends about unicorn-type creatures. Long after the Indus Valley Civilization had disappeared and been forgotten, stories from ancient India talked about a unicorn-like creature. Other Hindu stories describe boars and elephants with one horn instead of two. The Bible also mentions unicorns several times, depicting them as very strong and clever, but wild creatures. 

Asian History

In China, ancient stories tell of a creature called the qilin. This animal had a coat of multi-colored scales, like a fish; the body and hooves of a deer; the tail of a lion; and of course, a horn. The horn was usually pronged, instead of a single straight spike, and sometimes the qilin was also shown with two horns. The qilin would appear to people right before a wise man or great ruler showed up, foretelling their arrival. Korean and Japanese folklore includes a similar creature, known as a qirin.

Greek and Ancient Authors on Unicorns

Ancient Greek authors also wrote accounts of unicorn-like animals. They probably got the idea from the ones in Indian stories. One author, Ctesias, heard about such a creature from India while he was living in Persia, which is now Iran. He tried to describe it, but he’d never seen it or even talked to someone who had seen it with their own eyes. It ended up sounding like a donkey mixed with a rhinoceros….which he also hadn’t seen. The creature he described had a white body, dark red head and a horn that was white on the bottom, black in the middle, and bright red at the top. 

Many other ancient authors wrote about unicorns as well. They didn’t agree with each other or with modern notions of what unicorns look like. Most described unicorns as having very sharp horns–some say 4 feet! That’s about as tall as a 7 or 8-year-old child! Different writers described them as mashups of various animals. One said they had the body of a horse, legs of an elephant, tail of a pig, and a head of a deer. And of course, the 4-foot horn.

Can You Eat a Unicorn?

Unicorns were supposed to be very fierce and powerful. One author insisted that they let out “horrid roars.” They were said to be impossible to capture alive. But if you killed one while hunting, they were said to taste awful, so you shouldn’t eat them. (Though I doubt most kids these days would even think about it!) 

Still, ancient authors thought they were worth hunting for another reason. They thought the horn had magical properties that would counteract any poison, and you could even cure diseases by drinking from a unicorn-horn cup.  Some authors, including Julius Caesar, claimed that unicorns lived in the forests of Germany, a land that the Romans thought of as mysterious and dark, though they didn’t understand much about it. 

Unicorns in the Middle Ages

It was during the Middle Ages that unicorns started to look like what we’d call a unicorn today: A horse, or sometimes a goat, usually white and with a long, sharp, twisted horn growing up from its head. One person took issue with the new, pretty-white-horse image of unicorns: the medieval explorer Marco Polo. He visited China and saw something he was sure was a unicorn. He tried to set the record straight when he got back to Europe, telling people that real unicorns were gray and almost the size of elephants, had elephant feet, and enjoyed wallowing in mud. 

Can you guess what he really saw? 

Yes, again, he’s confusing a rhinoceros with a unicorn. In the 1400s, rhinos lived in China, but they’re extinct there now.

Much of what we know about what people believed about unicorns in the middle ages comes from a book called the Physiologus. The Physiologus described many wild and mythical animals, including unicorns. It described how they looked, but also how they behaved, and it gave them moral traits, just like humans.  We don’t know who wrote the Physiologus, but it was very popular for hundreds of years and translated into many different languages.  

Unicorns were still said to be fierce, strong, clever, and wild. One story told of a unicorn chasing a lion. The only way the lion survived was by ducking behind a tree at the last moment, so the charging unicorn’s horn got stuck in the tree trunk. But the Physiologus added that unicorns also symbolized purity and grace, and even represented Jesus Christ. There was a story that when a unicorn drank water from a dirty pool, the water would be cleaned and other animals would be able to drink from it too. Just like in ancient Rome, people still thought that unicorn horns could cure you of sickness and counteract poison. People would sell rhinoceros or narwhal horns as “unicorn” horns to people looking to use it as a remedy. Of course, they didn’t work. 

Medieval Artwork

Unicorns are featured in a lot of medieval artwork. People wove elaborate sets of tapestries that told stories in pictures. A unicorn-themed tapestry might show a group of hunters trying to catch a unicorn on the first panel, which we know by now is not easy! 

But, we learn in another panel, these hunters have a secret weapon: a young woman. In the middle ages, people thought that only a young maiden could tame a unicorn. The tapestry would show the maiden sitting with the calm unicorn, his head resting in her lap. 

In some tapestry stories, the woman might lead the unicorn to the king as a gift. In others, the hunters killed or captured the unicorn, while the woman cried, sorry for the part she had played in tricking the beautiful, clever creature. 

But often, in a final panel, the unicorn would be seen galloping away into the woods, as though it could never really be captured, even by trickery. 

Now it’s not hard at all to capture a unicorn, or at least something unicorn-themed. Unicorns are on everything from bed sheets and stuffed animals, to cupcakes and party supplies. They turn up in books and movies, such as My Little Pony and Harry Potter. And sometimes we even call people “unicorns” when they have some unusual combination of traits that almost seem to give them superpowers. 

What do You Think?

What do you think? Where did the legend of the unicorn come from? Did we pass down stories of a strange, prehistoric creature that, over time, morphed into a graceful horse with a slender horn? Did someone see a rhinoceros from far off, or hear a story about one, and just get confused about what it was? Or do hunters and young maidens in the forest late at night sometimes see the outline of a wild horse against the full moon, with a single horn pointing up to the stars, and sense something magical?

Sources

https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/mythic-creatures/land/unicorns-west-and-east

https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/unicorns-are-more-legit-than-you-think?utm_source=DamnInteresting

https://thekingsbible.com/Concordance/unicorn

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qilin

https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1629/the-unicorn-myth/

Parpola, Asko (2011) ‘The Harappan unicorn in Eurasian and South Asian perspectives.’ Linguistics, Archeology, and the Human Past. Eds. Toshiki Osada & Hitoshi Endo. Indus Project, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature. Kyoto, Japan.

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Close your eyes and imagine you are in a beautiful, Japanese garden. You see a small stream leading to a calm pond covered in bright pink flowers and water lilies. The green grass around you is cut short and all of the plants and shrubbery are neatly trimmed. Flowering trees are above you. You see a wooden footbridge and cross the pond to an open area with a grand temple in the middle. It’s designed in Japanese fashion with a peaked roof. Surrounding the temple are men and women holding wooden swords. A teacher is showing them how to use the sword, swinging it upward and then down. They all follow his instructions at the same time in a coordinated dance. Then they kick and swing the swords again. Past them, in the temple, you see a group cross-legged and meditating. You suddenly realize you are observing a group of Japanese samurais in training.

Have you ever heard of a “samurai”? A samurai was an ancient warrior in the country of Japan. You could compare them to the knights of Medieval Times, because they were warriors who wore armor, fought in battles, and lived a code of honor. But they were also different from knights in other ways which we’ll talk about today.

If you saw a samurai today they’d be wearing armor, a helmet, and carrying a long sword called a “katana.” They were known for their great strength and skill and speed and their incredible use of the katana sword. The first Samurai fought on horseback. For a long time, the soldiers in Japan were peasants – simple people who farmed the land and weren’t trained to fight. So when they fought in a battle, they weren’t very effective because their job was normally farming not fighting. At the time in Japan, some of the wealthier citizens had horses and decided they might be better warriors than the peasants. Horses gave them an advantage and using a bow and arrow from the back of the horse, these wealthy Japanese became very dangerous fighters. Soon, instead of peasants fighting, more and more of the soldiers became Samurai, fighting with swords and bow and arrows from horseback.

As the samurai trained harder and from a young age, they became known for their excellent skills with the katana sword. They disciplined themselves. Discipline means to have self-control. Daily they practiced riding horses, using the katana, and doing things that were very hard but made them stronger because they pushed their body and mind to their limits. They were similar to Spartan warriors in this way, too.

Some of the legendary samurai were women, too. Tomoe Gozen fought bravely during the clan wars. She was a skilled archer and swordsman, “a warrior worth a thousand” the legends say. She was a strong horseman and could ride down steep hills. In battle, she was sent out as a captain in the best armor and the best weapons to lead the other samurai – and “performed more deeds of valor than any of the other warriors.” 

Another well known general at this time was female samurai Hangaku Gozen. Female foot soldiers were also known to fight alongside the men during clan wars.

In the Pacific Ocean, Japan is an island located off the coast of China. At the time, a powerful people called the Mongols ruled China and wanted to rule Japan, too. In 1270 A.D. Kublai Khan, the leader of the Mongol army,  decided to attack Japan. He sent 40,000 soldiers and 90 ships to invade the island. But for many years, the Japanese Samurai had been preparing and training to defend their country. When the Mongols invaded, they were met by the fast and powerful Samurai who used their skills to defend Japan and stopped the invasion. 

For a time, Japan was also divided into power clans, or groups of people sort of like small cities or towns. The clans were ruled by a leader called a “daimyo” (dime-yo). The daimyo hired samurai to protect their clan. Often clans fought against each other for more land so many of the samurai battles over the years were between competing clans. Samurai became distinguished for their honor in battle. Honor meant their commitment to the samurai code or set of rules known as the “bushido.” They strictly followed the rules of a samurai or “bushido” which included courage, respect, self-control and righteousness, which means doing the right thing. In battle, the Samurai were taught to never surrender or back down, to continue fighting even when they were losing and to have courage even in the most fearful moments.

In 1582, a man named Oda Nobunaga was born to a powerful daim-yo in the Owari region. Growing up, Nobunaga was trained as other samurai to fight with the bow and arrow, sword, and learned to discipline himself after the “bushido,” the way of the samurai. After his father passed away, Nobunaga and his brothers fought to rule the clan and Nobunaga became the new leader. But he wasn’t content leading one clan, he wanted to grow the clan’s power and began conquering other clans nearby. He was a skilled military leader and organized his soldiers and samurai in a way that continued to win until he ruled many other clans. Nobunaga also made alliances with other powerful clans. An alliance is an agreement that they will work together. And eventually Nobunaga’s clans and alliances brought all of the clans together. Nobunaga eventually became the leader of half the clans in Japan, also called a “shogun.” He built a beautiful castle on a lake and lived there during his rule. From there he continued to organize and strengthen his armies and make laws that he believed were in Japan’s best interest. The rule of a powerful Japanese leader was called a “shogunate” and his rule was followed by powerful leaders such as Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa. Under Hideyoshi, all of Japan was united under a single leader or “shogunate.” This led the way for a unified Japan up until the single country it is today. 

Back to the samurai – with Japan united, the different clans and their dime-yo leaders no longer fought for control. Because there was peace between clans, the samurai weren’t needed for fighting. Also, gunpowder and guns were introduced to Japan, so the army became made up of regular soldiers and swords were replaced with guns. The samurai became workers for the new Japanese government. They still followed the code of the Samurai but weren’t needed for battle and taught others about the “bushido” code and how to have self-control and respect for others. 

Some of the samurai who didn’t want to become peaceful government workers and who no longer were needed by the clans became leaderless. These wandering samurai became known as “Ronin” (row-nin) who often became bandits or soldiers for hire. In one of the most famous Japanese stories, 47 of these Ronin lost their master after he was murdered. They band together and seek after his murderer until they get revenge. This legendary story was made into plays and later movies and comic books called “47 Ronin.” 

As we’ve mentioned before, the way of the samurai, the special code they followed that made them samurai was called “bushido.” Without bushido, they wouldn’t have had the discipline to train and act with courage during the toughest moments of battle. Even though you aren’t a samurai, you can take the best things from the bushido code and apply them to your own life. As we talk about the principles of bushido, think about how you might use them each day.

The first principle of bushido was rectitude or justice. This meant to act in a way that made sense, was rational, even when it was very hard to do so. Also, to treat others with fairness and honor.

The second principle was courage, which means acting on what is right even when it is hard. A samurai was determined to act even under difficult circumstances. If you’ve ever done something hard, when it wasn’t easy, you’ve demonstrated courage. And courage doesn’t always come easy, it takes practice! Next time something challenging comes your way say to yourself, “I can have courage, I can do it!” With each courageous step you take, it can become easier.

The third principle of bushido was mercy. This means showing love to others and being able to forgive.

Fourth, politeness. To treat others with respect, have good manners, and say kind things. 

Fifth, honesty. We all know what that means. Telling the truth even when it’s not easy.

Sixth, honor. This meant showing personal respect. Respecting yourself and having patience. This means taking a deep breath when you might get upset and finding ways to work through problems by keeping a cool head, rather than getting angry and losing ones temper. 

Seventh, loyalty. To the samurai this loyalty to their leaders, usually the daim-yo. For you, this might mean listening to your parents or sticking up for your family, siblings, and friends, and being there for them when they need your help.

Finally, eighth, self control. One of the most important because it helps with all of the other principles. This means being able to manage your wants. There might be something you really want, but you can ask yourself if you really need it. It’s important to be able to tell the difference between wants and needs. Needs are things you do need, like good food and sleeping each day. Wants might be a toy or watching a movie, which can be fun at times but aren’t really necessary all the time. Next time you want something, but don’t really need it, try saying “no.” And you’ll find each time you strengthen that part of your brain that has self-control. Also, eating healthy and getting good sleep help with self-control. 

Those are the principles of bushido, the way of the samurai. Like I said, think of ways you can incorporate these good teachings and others into your own life to have the strength of a samurai!

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Who was Siddhartha Gautama?

Imagine you’re a prince or a princess, living in a giant, luxurious palace. There your parents make sure that you have everything you could ever want or need: lots of toys, fine clothes, and the best education. You’re surrounded by beautiful gardens and expensive things. You have servants to clean up after you, bring your food, and help with everything. When you’re not learning from private tutors, you spend your days swimming, practicing archery and swordsmanship, and riding horses. The palace is so massive, it’s your entire world and you never even need to leave. 

Now imagine you decide to give that all up. You’re not happy with that life. You wonder if life has a greater meaning. You wonder if possessions can ever make people truly happy and content. This was the life Siddhartha Gautama found himself in. You might have heard of him: now, we call him Buddha. 

What was the Buddha’s real name?

The story of how Siddhartha became Buddha begins even before his birth. Siddhartha’s father was king of a small kingdom in northern India in the sixth century BCE over 2,500 years ago!  Several years before Siddhartha was born, the king was visited by sages, or wise men, who told him his son would be either a great king or a great holy man. Of course, Siddhartha’s father wanted his son to follow in his footsteps and be a great king.  So when Siddhartha was born in 567 BCE, his father decided to shelter his son from the world, so he wouldn’t know about suffering and death. He thought that if Siddhartha never saw bad things in the world, he wouldn’t want to fix them, and so he wouldn’t want to become a holy man. 

Buddha’s Early Life

So Siddhartha grew up surrounded by all the comforts and privileges money could buy. When he became a young man, he married a woman named Gopa. He seemed to have it all, but the plan Siddhartha’s father made for him to become a great king was about to fall apart. Instead of accepting the life of luxury that he was given, Siddhartha grew restless living in the palace. One day, he asked his father to let him go on a chariot ride to see the city around the palace. His father agreed but told the chariot driver to stay in the richer parts of the city, close to the palace, to avoid letting Siddhartha see people who were poor or suffering. 

Siddhartha set out in the chariot with his driver. Before long, they saw an old man, slowly hobbling along the road, looking as if he might fall over at any moment. Siddhartha had never seen such an old man, and he asked his driver what was wrong with him. 

His driver replied, “He is very old. His body has grown weak with age. You too will grow old someday. All people do.”

Siddhartha was disturbed but asked him to drive on. Later in the ride, they saw a sick man lying by the side of the road. He was groaning and looked very unhappy. Again, Siddhartha asked what was wrong with the man. 

His driver replied, “He is sick with a terrible disease. Everyone gets sick sometimes. Someday, you will get sick.”

Siddhartha felt terrible, seeing this man suffering, but they continued their ride through the city. 

On their way back to the palace, they came across a funeral procession. People were crying and moaning. For a third time, Siddhartha asked his chariot driver what was happening.

Again, his driver replied. “Someone has died, and these people are his friends and family. They are mourning for him.”  

When Siddhartha returned home, he could not stop thinking about the old man, the sick man, and the funeral. He thought about these things happening to his father and mother, to his wife, and to himself. He realized that all the treasure in the palace, all the servants waiting on him, and all the beautiful things surrounding him, could not prevent him or anyone else from the sad things he said. He realized that he wanted to find a way to help people overcome suffering. 

Siddartha’s Personal Journey

Once he realized these things, Siddhartha knew he could no longer live an easy life in the palace. So one day, he said goodbye to his family and set out to find the cause of suffering. He cut his hair and lived as an ascetic – someone who chooses to live in poverty and simplicity. He studied meditation with great holy men and discussed the problem of suffering with them, but after many years of living this way, he still didn’t know why it happened, or how he could prevent it.

Finally, he decided to sit and meditate under a bodhi tree. He vowed not to leave until he had the answer to the problem of human suffering.  Siddhartha sat meditating day and night, still and calm as a statue, for six days. On the sixth day, he opened his eyes and realized he understood the nature of suffering. He became enlightened and from then on was known as Buddha, which means awakened one. 

Buddha’s Four Noble Truths

For the rest of his life, Buddha traveled throughout India, teaching others about what he had discovered. He taught people the four noble truths he had realized about suffering.

The first truth is that everyone suffers and has hard things happen to them. It’s just part of life. 

The second truth is that we suffer because we are always wanting more, and trying to hold onto what we have. This might sound surprising. Didn’t he start his quest because he saw people who were suffering because they were old, sick, and dying? Buddha thought that the real reason we suffer is not that bad things happen to us, but because we allow negative feelings and desires to take over our thinking. If we’re sick, we lie around feeling sorry for ourselves and wishing we were well. But then when we’re healthy, we think of other things we want but don’t have, and we still suffer. 

Think about a time when you really wanted a new toy or game. It probably felt very unfair that you didn’t have it, and then, if you did get it, you might have been happy for a short time, but then you were just back to normal and wanted something new. We become attached to things, or even ideas of things, and those things are not permanent. This keeps us spending all our time wanting things we don’t have, and worrying we’ll lose what we do have. He taught that things like toys and games and other things we might buy don’t really make us happy deep down and any happiness we do feel doesn’t last.

The third truth is that we can overcome suffering. Once we overcome suffering, Buddha thought, we could reach a state of nirvana, or perfect peace and happiness, just as he did when he meditated under the bodhi tree. 

Finally, the fourth truth tells us how to overcome suffering. The way Buddha thought we overcome suffering is by following what he called the “eightfold path.” I won’t go over all eight parts of the path, but basically, to follow the eightfold path, we must always try to improve ourselves: this means being kind and honest; try not to harm anyone or anything; and acting with compassion. We must also learn to pay attention to our own thoughts. As we pay attention to our thoughts we can better understand the thoughts that make us feel sad. This helps us think in a new way. This paying attention to our thoughts is called meditation.

Karma

Buddha taught that following the eight-fold path creates good karma.  Karma is the idea that everything you do has a consequence, whether good or bad. Kind actions tend to have positive consequences, and unkind actions, have negative consequences. This isn’t a consequence like a reward or a punishment – it’s just a thing that happens as a result of an action. He taught that by building up a lot of good karma, you can reach nirvana, a state of true enlightenment. 

Buddha spent the rest of his life traveling around India, teaching what he had discovered to anyone who wanted to learn. He encouraged his followers to try out the practices he taught for themselves, to see how well they worked, and to gather in communities to learn and help each other. The community was important because Buddha knew that to be truly happy, people need to feel compassion and kindness for both themselves and others. This is called metta in Buddhism.

Buddhism

After its beginnings in India, Buddhism spread throughout South and East Asia and was practiced widely in Tibet, Bhutan, Thailand, China, and Japan, among others. Today, people around the world practice Buddhism in different forms. For some, it’s a religion, but for others, it’s simply a way of looking at life.

Meditation

As Buddha taught, you can take the time to meditate each day. Meditating is a good chance to breathe deeply and slow your thoughts. It can also help you look closely at your thoughts. Your thoughts often lead to how you’re feeling. So if you have lots of negative thoughts those may be causing negative feelings. Breathing deeply and clearing your mind can give you the positive energy you need to help yourself and help others. There are a lot of great ways to start meditating. You can find videos, podcasts, and apps, that can get you started. But the simplest way is to just set a timer and try and sit and relax during that time while breathing deeply. 

What can I learn from Buddha?

Also, like Buddha taught, remember that things that we buy won’t always make us happy. Toys eventually break, or they go out of fashion, and we’ll always want something new. Think about how you might turn your attention to more important things like spending time with your family and friends, learning something new, or doing good for others. These are things that last longer and will give you greater, deeper joy.   

I hope you enjoyed this episode about Buddha. Be sure to check in next Monday for a new episode!

Sources

Fields, Rick. “Who Is the Buddha?” in: Tricycle, Spring 1997. https://tricycle.org/magazine/who-was-buddha-2/

Meyers, Rachel. Curiosity Chronicles: Snapshots of Ancient History. Little Monster Schooling, 2017.

Nagaraja, Dharmachari. Buddha at Bedtime.Watkins, 2016.

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