Ilanot Yom Olympus!

Today, Ilanot had so much fun at our Yom Meyuchad / Special Day (the day when the specialists have their day off). It all began last night, when each tzrif / bunk snuck out to the amphitheater (a very Greek place in camp) to hear the words of the Oracle of Delphi/Camp Ramah. The oracle told the edah that Zeus’ lightening bolt was missing and that the edah would have to climb Mount Olympus by completing various challenges to recover the lightening bolt. With a lot of excitement, everyone went to sleep looking forward to the exciting day ahead.

After breakfast this morning we met in our Moadon / clubhouse and found out that we would have to complete challenged related to several charachters from Greek mythology. After completing each task as an edah, they would receive one of the symbols or totems of that god/myth. The madrichim / counselors arrived to the Moadon dressed in togas, which they wore throughout the day.

The first challenge of the day was for the god Apollo, lord of Music and the Sun. The task was to work as a team to create and perform a skit to act out one story from Greek mythology. We saw a couple of episodes from the stories of Odysseus, and the story of Arachnis (the weaver turned spider) and a couple of other stories. The kids did a great job acting them out, and received the totem of the Sun.

Our next challenge was a series of relay races and activities related to the Olympics. When we successfully completed the relay race, we received Mars’ shield totem! Below are a couple of pictures from the relay race– kids doing wheelbarrow and crab-walking in turn.

For Poseidon, we played some exciting water games and had a short, fun water fight. It was a hot muggy day, and it was nice to cool off by getting a little wet. We had sponge toss, a couple of challenges to fill the water bucket using different methods, and drip drip drop (duck duck goose, but with water). Right before lunch, we received the Trident totem!

After lunch, we wrote notes to our future selves, and put them into a time capsule for Pandora’s Box. The time capsules will be put into a special location, and will be opened when our Ilanot chanichim / campers are in Nivonim!

After receiving the Pandora totem, we had our afternoon snack. To get the grapes, Dionysus asked the chanichim to form shapes out of their bodies as a group. Everyone ate grapes and saltines, and we got the totem (a grape!).

For Hermes, the messenger god, we had a scavenger hunt that used the Herculean labors and the theme. To get each clue, the group had to complete the task related to one of Hercules’ feats of strength. Each group completed their tasks, and met at the Beit Knesset, where we received the wings of Hermes and the Lightening Bolt of Zeus. Climbing to the top of Mount Olympus was hard work, and once we had ascended to the pinnacle, we watched the Disney movie Hercules. 

To close out the Yom Meyuchad, David, the Director of Programming, came to our edah to sing the song from the movie Hercules: Go the Distance. David has a beautiful voice, and it was a perfect ending to a very fun and exciting day.