Soaring Wings International Montessori School celebrated International Peace Day on Monday by bringing the student body together to sing a song of peace at the same time as schools around the world.
One hundred and fifty Soaring Wings students painted peace flags and assembled, most wearing white, to sing and watch a video of students around the world singing the same song. Other Montessori schools in Utah posted pinwheels, flew flags, painted stones and waved banners of peace.
International Peace Day was founded by the United Nations in 1981 to establish a worldwide day of peace. Montessori schools, based in education for peace, soon picked up the idea and, according to the school, originated the tradition of wearing white and singing for peace between 10 and 11 a.m., the first songs beginning in New Zealand and cascading across the globe, ending in Hawaii 24 hours later. The practice urges governments to call a 24-hour ceasefire and for people of all nations to work for peace.
