BBMH's Peace Day 2010

Peace Day is about Maria Montessori’s vision of peace. Maria Montessori was born in 1870 in the province of Ancona in Italy, the same year Italy became a country. Maria spent her childhood in Ancona and attended the State day school. At the age of twelve her parents moved to Rome in order to give her a better education. Her parents encouraged her to take on teaching (the only job for women at the time).

Maria Montessori was a strong believer in peace, especially since she lived during World Wars I and II. When she eventually founded the Montessori school, she decided to teach the students to be peaceful to one another, so future generations would make the world a better and safer place.

On September 10th, the students of Boundary Bay Montessori House got together to celebrate International Peace Day. The day started off with a demonstration by Lize, which involved two buckets, one filled with water and one empty. The buckets represented people, so when you say something kind to someone or doing a good deed, you are “filling their bucket”. Afterwards we participated in several fun activities such as drumming, making pizza, drawing, and playing games.

The official date of Peace Day is September 21st. It was first introduced by the United Nations in 1981. The day will usually start off with the ringing of the “Peace Bell”, a bell created using coins sent in from children from all around the world. On the side it reads “Long Live Absolute World Peace”. After the bell is rung, there will be one minute of silence in areas of combat and a temporary ceasefire for the entire day.

Several Peace Day events take place around the world, including planting gardens, music concerts, and festivals.

Montessori children from all over will be singing the song “Light a Candle for Peace”. While most schools don’t devote an entire day to peace, they may participate in activities such as singing, making posters, or folding paper cranes. However our school devotes a whole day to connecting and sharing in peace activities. 

Peace Day may be only one day of the year, but it will hopefully inspire people to be peaceful all year round.