11th November: Origami Day

It’s an important one for all you paper folding fanatics. It’s the birthday of Lillian Oppenheimer, the founder of the first origami group in America. She also was instrumental in the founding of the British Origami Society and Origami USA. So if you love the art of folding paper and creating beautiful creations from paper, cloth, dollar bills, napkins, or anything that’ll hold a crease, Origami Day is for you!

November 11 is Origami Day. First observed in Japan,  the ancient Japanese art of creating intricate objects and complex shapes out of square pieces of paper.

Origami, which comes from the Japanese words, ori meaning folding, and kami meaning paper, originated in Japan in the 6 century, though for a long period of time the art was preserved for religious ceremonies. By the 17th century, origami had become mainstream in Japanese society and was being used for decorative and ceremonial purposes. In recent years, origami has become popular with origami societies and competitions springing up all around the world.

While traditionally origami only involves folding paper and cannot include the use of any scissors or knives, modern-day origami artists do not make any distinction between sculptures that are made just by folding paper and kirigami – a variation of origami that creates models by cutting and gluing together paper.

History

The art of folding paper arose in several places throughout the world, including Europe, China, and Japan. It has accompanied traditions and celebrations of every kind, including funerals, birthdays, and more. The first actual 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 designs were used.

In Europe, it was napkin folding that was all the rage, a tradition which was abundant during the 17th and 18th centuries as a sign of being a good host or hostess. Sadly, this particular tradition was going to fade out and become nearly forgotten until recently, when it’s 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 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.

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