A Tanzanian Birthday

Last week we celebrated a birthday at Steven Tito Academy! Hadija, one of our Prep students, turned 6.She had a beautiful cake with green writing on it.

The students singing 'Happy Birthday' to Hadija

Putting on the hat

We all sang 'Happy Birthday' to Hadija. In Tanzania we sing:

'Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Hadija,
Happy Birthday to you
How old are you you now?
How old are you you now?
Happy Birthday dear Hadija
Happy Birthday to you.
Cut the cake today
Cut the cake today'
Then we clap 6 times (because Hadija turned 6)

Cutting the cake

In Tanzania the birthday girl or boy has to feed a piece of cake to each of the guests. It takes a while but it is a lot of fun.

Giving cake to her Dad

Feeding cake to one of her friends

Feeding cake to Grace, the mum who looks after Hadija

Little Nadya, from the preschool, enjoying a piece of cake

The students were all very happy to get their piece of cake

After enjoying the cake we all went back to class.

We have been learning about celebrations in class. We all drew a picture of either our birthday, Christmas, Eid or some other celebration. Then we wrote about what we do on that day. Here are some examples:

Eid - Ally (Grade 3)

In our family we like to go to the Mosque. In our family we celebrate Eid because it is a fun day to celebrate. On the day for Eid we go to the Mosque. We eat pilau and meat of cow. The day of Eid we play games like football.

 My Birthday - Salama (Grade 1)

On my birthday we have bananas and bread. People eat cake. I play with my friend. I eat the cake. I play with balloons.

 Christmas by Sabra (Grade 2)

I have a fun day. I play with the dog. We all eat chips. We put a Christmas tree. We all dance. We eat cake. We go to the beach and eat chips and chicken. We put a tree for presents.

This week Athumani took the photos for the blog post. We think he did a pretty good job. Thanks Athumani!

Questions:
1. What is one thing we do to celebrate birthdays in Tanzania?
2. How do you celebrate your birthday? Do you have cake?
3. Ally celebrates Eid. Research what Eid is and present to your class.
4. Which celebration would you most enjoy: Eid with Ally, a birthday party with Salama or Christmas with Sabra? Why?