On the Fourth Day of Christmas, four calling birds are given. Calling birds are songbirds that just like bees help to pollinate flowers and disperse the seeds. Song birds help to keep insects under control and of course the name hint of a bird with a well-developed vocal cord.
Whose songs will we hear?
It is easy to stop noticing birds but the day no birds are singing we will definitely miss the sound. It s a bit the same with traditions and every year around the Festive Season, we tend to buy the same things as we did last year. Our eyes are drawn to the same food aisle and we are tempted to restock our homes with the same type of Christmas decorations as we bought last year. Yet our approach is filled with problems.
Sixty per cent of all the word’s Christmas decorations and accessories, from glowing fibre-optic trees to felt Santa hats are made in “China’s Christmas village”, Yiwu. This city has 600 factories where mainly migrant labourers work 12 hours a day for a maximum of £200 to £300 a month. Many of these workers are not even sure what Christmas is.
How can you rethink the decorations that you use during the Festive Season?
- Can you design a decoration that can be used several years?
- Can you make a decoration that can be easily altered so that it can be used as an Easter decoration or decorate the house during summer?
- Can you wrap your Christmas presents with recycled materials.? Or materials that can be composted or reused?
- Can you design a shop where the customers eyes are drawn towards sustainable decorations rather than decorations produced in factories?
- Can you make an ad for sustainable decorations?
Great ideas sometimes just appear, so give it time and perhaps an idea may emerge when you browse around in the shops or when you hear a bird singing. Short pauses and leaving a task is sometimes the key to rethinking.
Happy Think Diving!
On the First day of Christmas my true love sent to me
a Partridge in a Pear Tree.
On the Second day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Two Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree.
On the Third day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Three French Hens
Two Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree.
On the Fourth day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Four Calling Birds
Three French Hens
Two Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree.
