Origami Day - November 11

Do you also have the childhood memories of making small paper boats that sail on puddles, creating a hat to wear on your head or a paper airplane flying home from the living room to the kitchen and back? This nice childhood hobby is called origami and is part of a whole art where amazing things are made from paper folds.

Origami, the famous Japanese art of folding paper, began to develop in the 1600s (or earlier) and became popular around the world in the mid-twentieth century. Origami traditionally does not involve any cutting or gluing, it is simply folds that create a variety of shapes, simple and complex. The art of cutting paper is called Kirigami.

Although there are only a few basic origami folds, they can be combined to create lots of things, like birds and flowers, dragons and dinosaurs, elephants, castles, steamers and even spaceships! Papers can be combined in different colors to make the origami creation colorful and rich.

The origin of the name "origami" is from the Japanese phrase "uri", folding 折 り and "gami", a piece of paper 紙.

Origami began in Japanese and Chinese culture, as part of various rituals in the Shinto religion common in Japan. From there it spread to the whole world and became part of the leisure culture.

In Japanese culture paper symbolizes purity. In the Shinto religion, people especially like to fold crane-shaped paper. The crane symbolizes health, success and fulfillment of wishes. Folding 1000 cranes allows fulfillment of a wish.

In 1955, Sadako Sasaki, a 12-year-old girl from Hiroshima who survived the U.S.-led atomic bombing of World War II, contracted leukemia and decided to fold 1,000 cranes to fulfill a wish for world peace. Of peace movements around the world.

Origami crane

Over the years, origami began to be used not only in art but also in other fields.

At the end of the 20th century origami also began to be used in the fields of science, technology and mathematics. The complexity of the paper folds allowed for the learning and development of various technological and nanotechnological models.

Origami is used as a tool for occupational therapy in psychiatric hospitals, special education and as a tool for the rehabilitation of fine motor skills among accident victims, because it combines planning and thinking and gentle work with the hands.

How to celebrate Origami Day?

There are lots of origami projects that you can see and learn how to make them, for example on the Origami Club website where there are animations and charts of traditional paper folds.

If you already know or have just learned how to make origami, today is the time to upload your creations to the social network so that everyone can enjoy the delicate beauty of this art!

Japan Origami Museum, Narita Airport, Tokyo

Want to learn how to make paper rings? Link to tutorial 

November 11 is also Singles' Day  and Veterans Day

Puzzle Day - January 29

Every year on January 29, the puzzle day is meant to remind us that using our brain to solve puzzles is among its many benefits.

Whether it's a puzzle, crossword puzzle, trivia, bulk, puzzle or sudoku, thinking games force our minds to work. Studies have found that when we work on a puzzle, we use both sides of the brain. Spending time every day working on puzzles improves our memory, cognitive function and problem-solving skills.

The puzzles also help us improve our social skills. When we work on these cerebral stimuli with someone, we enhance our social interactions. Whether we join a group or play with our children, these interactions make us socially active and teach our children social skills as well.

Working quietly on the puzzle also provides the mind with an opportunity to focus the mind in a meditative way that is not forced.

Bottom line, the puzzles stimulate the brain, keep it active and practice its skills which is why they are so important and they deserve a day of their own.

The history of the puzzle

The first puzzle was created around 1760 by the engraver and map maker John Spilsbury. John attached to the tree the world map he had drawn and cut it into pieces, with each part being a country in the world. John's puzzle was used by British students in geography studies.

John Spilsbury's puzzle

Until the 20th century, puzzles that were made of wood were used for educational purposes.

At the beginning of the 20th century, puzzles also began to be made from cardboard. The puzzles are made by stamping (a process in which a metal board to which sharp metal strips are attached in a suitable pattern is pressed into the cardboard by force from above and by this pressure the cut is created).

In the early 20th century, the Parker Brothers, famous game makers, began producing puzzles as an entertaining mind game. The puzzles were so successful that in 1909 they stopped producing other games and their factory started producing only puzzles.

After World War II, wooden puzzles began to disappear because of the high cost and high length of time required to manufacture them.

During this period, the improvement in lithography and the method of cutting made cardboard puzzles more common.

Today puzzles are mainly used as a mind game and are produced with more and more pieces. The largest jigsaw puzzle in the world contains 42,000 pieces.

The biggest puzzle in the world - link

How to celebrate Puzzle Day?

If you do not have a puzzle, it is today to get one and start solving. You can buy in the store and you can also go to online gaming sites and solve online.

How to solve a puzzle? 

First prepare the work surface on which you will place the puzzle. It should be a large enough surface that the whole puzzle picture can be placed on.

Gather the frame parts and separate them from the rest of the parts. The parts of the frame can be identified by having one side completely straight.

Sort the pieces of the puzzle by colors and textures. Once sorted, it will be easier for you to assemble each piece in the puzzle.

Use the puzzle picture to assemble the pieces of the puzzle frame.

Focus on assembling one set of parts at a time. If you get stuck, move on to another area. This is not terrible because the goal is to get rid of as many parts as possible to facilitate the assembly craft later on.

If there are parts that are difficult to assemble, do not try by force. The quality manufacturers create the puzzles when the appropriate pieces fit together easily.

If you have lost a piece of a puzzle, contact the company that makes it and ask for the missing part. Most companies tend to respond to these requests in the affirmative and mail the missing parts.

A puzzle of the Sistine Chapel of the Ravensburger Company 

January 29 is also Curmudgeons Day