Make a mark with us on International Day of Peace!
September 21st is the International Day of Peace. Together with the partner organizations in our international network CCIVS, we call on all of you this year to set an example for peace and international understanding on this day. How? With a picture of you with an origami paper crane. You can read here how paper cranes became a symbol of peace.
In Asia, especially in Japan, the crane was originally a symbol of wealth and friendship. According to tradition, 1000 paper cranes will bring good luck and are often folded around the New Year as a sign of prosperity.
After the bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the paper crane gained greater importance as a symbol of peace. Behind the symbol of the peace crane is Sadako Sasaki, an 11-year-old girl who was diagnosed with leukemia caused by nuclear radiation in 1955. Sadako had heard that if she folded 1,000 paper cranes, she would be granted a wish. So she began to fold paper crane after paper crane to wish that she would be cured of the disease and would live in a world without wars.
That same year she died without completing the 1000 paper cranes, but her story spread across Japan and her legacy lives on in a memorial in her honor. It is said that her friends and classmates continued to fold paper cranes for her. And the tradition is stil alive; after the earthquake and the subsequent tsunami in Japan in March 2011, students and children folded paper cranes as a sign of hope and good blessings.
Take part in the campaign and send us your paper crane picture!
This year CCIVS will collect paper crane pictures from employees of workcamp organizations, board members and workcamp volunteers and publish them on International Day of Peace. The more pictures the better, so join us now!
Can't fold a paper crane? Don't worry, it's not that difficult at all. You can find simple folding instructions including illustrations here.
The deadline for submitting your picture is September 14, 2020. Here you can send your picture directly to the coordinators of the campaign.