The wishing tree

We've had a very chilly forest Friday today!! Brrrrrrr!

In honour of Chinese New Year we made our own Wishing tree. There is a very famous, ancient banyan tree in Lam Tsuen in Hong Kong to which people travel at Chinese New Year and during other festivals to leave their own special wishes.
People would write and throw their wishes into the tree. It was believed that if the wish successfully hung onto one of the branches, the person’s wish would come true. The higher the branch the wish landed on, the more likely it would be for the person’s hopes to be fulfilled.
Sadly a few years ago, one of the branches on the tree broke, so, although people are now discouraged from throwing their wishes up into the trees, tourists and locals still make the journey to the small village every year to tie their wishes onto wooden beams, imitation trees or racks that surround the original wishing trees.
Although we would have loved to visit the original wishing trees, it was a bit too far on a Friday afternoon, so we decided to make our own!
What would you wish for? Leave us a comment and let us know?

We chose materials.

We decided whether to hang them on the branches or pin them on the trunks.



We used ribbons to tie on to the branches so they would flutter in the wind.

We added some instruments that made lovely, twinkly sounds.

We wrapped materials round the trunk.

We were proud of our work!

We managed to get really high in the trees....

by working together safely!

We wrote out our own wishes.

Some of us decided to say a prayer after hanging up our wishes.

It was tricky hanging them up!

We wished for some pretty grown up things!

Do you like our wishing trees?