Transcript india - ENGLISHCALMAIOL

INDIA
DIWALI
DIWALI
• What is Diwali?
• Diwali is celebrated by Hindus in India and all around the
world in October or November. It is the Hindu New Year
and is either a 3-day or 5-day holiday depending on
where you come from.
• It is a very exciting and colourful holiday. Homes are
cleaned to welcome the New Year and windows are
opened so that the Hindu goddess of wealth, Lakshmi,
can enter. It is believed that she cannot enter a house
which is not lit up, so every household burns special
Diwali clay lamps (diyas) to light the way for the
goddess, which is why the holiday is also known as the
Festival of Lights.
Neelu, 10, lives in India and talks about what goes on
during the festival of Diwali
• Here's her report:
• Diwali is a Hindu festival and is the happiest and noisiest of the
Hindu calendar.
• It is the festival of lights, crackers and sweets. It is one of my
favourite festivals when we all meet with our families, eat lots of
sweets and watch fireworks and crackers going off all around
us.
• Five days off school
• We celebrate Diwali because this is the time when Rama returned
home with his wife Sita, it is also when the demon king Ravan was
killed so we celebrate it as a festival.
• It is a five day festival so all the children have five days off school to
spend with their families. We do lots of different things on each day
of the festival:
• Day One - we prepare our houses by cleaning them and then make
'Rangoli' patterns on our doorstep or on the pavement outside our
houses.
• Day Two - we have to make sure that we look good. We have baths
with oils and then we receive gifts off our parents of new clothes and
jewellery.
• Day Three - this is the main day of the festival, we go to the temple
in the morning with our families. After we have said lots of prayers
we get to eat the sweets that our mothers have made and then we
have sparklers, crackers and fireworks.
• Day Four - this is the start of the Hindu new year. On this day
everybody dresses in their new clothes and we visit the biggest
temple in our town or city with our families.
• Day Five - on the final day of the festival a brother should be with
his sister wherever she is, then the girl will receive a gift off her
brother such as new clothes or sweets.
• We eat lots of lovely food throughout the festival, lots of
different savoury snacks and lots and lots of sweets, we
share our food with our neighbours. Although it is a
Hindu festival, it is celebrated by everybody across India.
• One of my favourite parts of the festival is worshipping
our gods.
• I do enjoy watching the fireworks lighting up the sky but
the crackers are just too noisy!
The Story of Diwali
•
Once upon a time there was a great warrior, Prince Rama, who had a beautiful
wife named Sita.
There was also a terrible demon king, Ravana. He had twenty arms and ten
heads, and was feared throughout the land. He wanted to make Sita his wife,
and one day he kidnapped her and took her away in his chariot. Clever Sita left
a trail of her jewellery for Rama to follow.
Rama followed the trail of glittering jewellery until he met the monkey king,
Hanuman, who became his friend and agreed to help find Sita. Messages were
sent to all the monkeys in the world, and through them to all the bears, who set
out to find Sita.
After a very long search, Hanuman found Sita imprisoned on an island. Rama's
army of monkeys and bears couldn't reach the island, so they began to build a
bridge. Soon all the animals of the world, large and small, came to help. When
the bridge was built, they rushed across it and fought a mighty battle.
•
When Rama killed the evil Ravana with a magic arrow, the whole world
rejoiced. Rama and Sita began their long journey back to their land, and
everybody lit oil lamps to guide them on their way and welcome them back.
Ever since, people light lamps at Diwali to remember that light triumphs over
dark and good triumphs over evil.
Sita is kidnapped by the demon King, Ravana
The monkey king Hanuman rescues Sita and she is reunited with
Rama after a mightly battle
The world rejoiced and lit the way home for Rama and Sita with a path
of bright oil lamps