Thursday

Jetsun Yudra Celebrates Her 2nd Birthday

Photo by Benny Fong

by Ian Bascetta, Continuity Kusung

On a sunny and slightly frozen Saturday afternoon, Jetsun Yudra celebrated her second birthday with a festive and cheerful gathering at the Kalapa Court in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Just before the celebrations began, the Sakyong bestowed birthday blessings upon Jetsun Yudra in the company of the Sakyong Wangmo and Jetsun Drukmo in the court shrine room.

Jetsun Yudra exclaimed “Yayyyy!” as her friends arrived in the late afternoon to help her celebrate turning two. She donned a blue chuba and a sparkling silver birthday hat with pink fur around the edges that read “Birthday Princess.”

The festivities began with a Treasure Hunt that required the young Shambhalians to follow the clues via photos of different places around the court. Jetsun Yudra led the way and didn’t miss a beat, but not without help from her older four-year-old sister, Jetsun Drukmo, who seemed to enjoy roaming her home and letting others find the clues rather than ruin the surprise. The Jetsuns seem to have perfected the art of hosting at the very young age of four and two! 

Photo by Ian Bascetta

As the treasure hunt came to an end in the family dining room, the children gathered for food, cake, and gift presentations. Following gifts, the Potrang Players (Amateur puppeteers Jeff Rosen and Kelly MacLean) put on a short puppet show inspired by Disney’s Frozen, with a Shambhalian twist (Disney meets Downton Abbey meets Shambhala). As the children sat in silence and awe at the inspired production, Jetsun Yudra decided to take a look behind the curtains and see how it was being done. When she appeared backstage, the cast and crew were delightfully surprised and got many laughs from the entire audience of children and parents.

As the play ended, and the lights came up Jetsun Yudra managed to steal the show with an amazing rendition of Disney’s “Let it go,” which she has memorized. Just as everyone thought the party was dying down, the Sakyong presented a poem he had composed for Jetsun Yudra that morning in honor of her second birthday: 

Photo by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche

Now You Are Two
Now you are two.
It is good to be two,
For you have always been two.
Even in the beginning you were two,
For mother and father made you two.
And when you were born,
The sun and the moon were there too.
Now being two you can run up,
And down too.
You can touch earth,
And sky too.
You can have cake,
Now You Are Two
And juice too.
Even in the future when you are many twos
You will still be two,
For the world and you will make two.
This and that will be two.
Love and compassion will always make you two.
For on this day,
Your sister and you make two.
Your mother loves you too,
And your father loves you too.

With impressive grace and manners, Jestun Yudra could be seen and heard in the front entranceway saying, “bye bye” to all the guests as they departed back into the frozen magical land of Halifax.