In Year 4, we have been learning all about and comparing some of the key Hindu festivals in RE.
There are so many festivals that celebrate the different gods – we started with Holi, the festival of colour. The children listened to the story of Prahlad, that his father, the king, wanted everyone to worship him but Prahlad continued to worship the Hindu god Vishnu. His father was furious and tried to hurt Prahlad in many different ways but each time the gods save him. Eventually, the king’s sister (Holika) plotted to take Prahlad into the fire with her as she had a magic cloak that would protect her from the fire. However, the gods intervened again and the cloak flew around Prahlad’s shoulders and protected him instead. Prahlad’s father was eventually banished and Prahlad became king and allowed everyone to worship the gods again. Hindu’s celebrate that good wins over evil by throwing lots of colourful paint onto each other. They also make a big fire to represent the fire from the story.
We then spent time looking at Navaratri (festival of nine nights) and Diwali (festival of light) and made sticks called Dandiya and Diya lamps, finishing with looking at the similarities and differences between each festival.
We found similarities between them – with the gods, the ways they are celebrated and the way colour is used to symbolise many different elements, but also differences in the times of year, the gods that were celebrated and the stories behind them.
