Here in Moldova, June 1st is both the first day of summer vacation from school and Children’s Day, which is celebrated as a main holiday. Some towns have begun to celebrate Children’s Day on the last day of school once school has been released, but my village still celebrates it on June 1st.
It’s a day of games, singing, dancing, and free ice cream for kids! In my village, we celebrated at our park, which is fairly new (when I visited for my site visit last July, the “park” was just a wide open space, but now we have a large playground, swings, and even a small pavilion).
The day started by a performance by 2nd grade students and continued with various singing and dance performances, including some by our traditional music and dance school.
The last performance was by a group of graduating 9th grade students, who performed the same dance they did on the last day of school.
After the scheduled performances, there was an open mic competition for poetry and singing, as well as a chalk drawing competition. These were judged by teachers from our school and there were several winners in each category, all of whom received some small prizes (balls, notebooks, drawing pads, and pens).
It was a beautiful day and most of the activities were set up in the shade. I really enjoyed the day and it was nice to see everyone enjoying the celebrations.
The Oke Den 