World Origami Day

World Origami Day was organized to coincide with the birthday of Lillian Oppenheimer, the founder of the first origami group in the United States. Oppenheimer, who lived from 1898 to 1992, also was instrumental in the founding of the British Origami Society, in addition to Origami USA. But, of course, Origami has quite a long history that goes much further back beyond Ms. Oppenheimer’s influence.

The art of folding paper seems to have arisen in several places throughout the world, including places such as Europe, China, and Japan. This particular form of art has accompanied traditions and celebrations of every kind, including funerals, birthdays, weddings and more. The first known historical reference to a paper model is in a poem, which somehow seems appropriate given that such things are traditionally written on paper. In that poem, a butterfly design was referenced in connection to Shinto weddings. But that’s just one of many ways that these lovely designs were used!

In Europe, it was napkin folding that was all the rage, a tradition that was abundant during the 17th and 18th centuries as a sign of being a good host or hostess. Sadly, this particular tradition would eventually fade out and become nearly forgotten until recent decades, when it is now beginning to see something of a resurgence.

When Japan opened its borders in the late 1800’s, they started incorporating German paper folding techniques, and these two worlds came together in a glorious union.

These days, Origami has been used as a beacon of hope, with the tradition of folding a thousand cranes being done for people who are in the hospital fighting cancer, for instance.

This tradition came from the experience of a young girl, Sadako Sasaki, who developed leukemia 10 years after the atomic bomb was dropped on her village of Hiroshima during World War II. While she was in the hospital, she had heard that a sick person who folded 1000 paper cranes would get well soon, so she decided to do it.

Sadako only succeeded in folding 644 paper cranes before she died peacefully. But people all over the world heard her story and were inspired. They joined together to build the Children’s Peace Monument in Hiroshima. To this day, children from all over the world send paper cranes to be placed at the monument in Sadako’s honor.

Because of this story, the patience and attention to detail that is inherent in the art of paper folding has come to symbolize a beacon of peace, healing and hope for the world.