Harvard Students Fold Paper Cranes for Marathon Victims

On Wednesday night, around 100 students spent part of the evening folding paper cranes in Winthrop Common Room. The cranes, totalling 285 so far, were made to remember last week’s bombing and subsequent manhunt that claimed four lives and injured hundreds.

“The idea is to fold a thousand paper cranes in the spirit of peace,” said organizer Ola Topczewska ’15, who is also a Crimson arts editor. She emphasized the link between last week’s tragedies and the need for unity. Despite the pain caused by tragedies of the past week, she said that the Boston area, including Harvard, “came together in a strong community.”

Creating a thousand cranes for peace has become a recurring response to tragedy. The tradition has roots in a Japanese legend that anyone who folds 1,000 paper cranes will receive one wish from a crane.

Topczewska said she and her co-organizers hope to display the cranes publicly once completed, perhaps by hanging them at the Arts First festival this upcoming weekend.

Students wandered in and out of Wednesday’s event, taking a seat on a couch or armchair and picking up sheets of brightly patterned paper to fold. Those who struggled with the complicated folds turned to neighbors for help or read instructions from sheets scattered on tables.

Above the chatter, a variety of students performed with talents ranging from classical violin to piano to singing and songwriting. A number of spoken word artists from student group Speak Out Loud also performed.

Topczewska described the night’s entertainment as “a whole spectrum of performers, from people who are in [a joint degree program] with the New England Conservatory to people who play in their spare time.”

With attendees who often came and went, the group did not actually make 1,000 cranes, but organizers said they hope to continue working their way towards their goal, perhaps in the newly-completed plaza outside the Science Center during Harvard’s upcoming Arts First festival.