Lesson Development in Detail
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Lesson Six: Nepal , the Bible and us (2010) Lesson development in detail Competence area: Nepal, the Bible and us lesson 6 Lesson: Nepal's festivals Objectives: After this lesson, the children know more about what people in Nepal celebrate during their main festivals. Time: Lesson can be as long as you like Content: Read or tell about Judges 17 and 18 • Stress the point that there have been people worshipping other gods beside our God and that they usually use idols for it. Of course God does strongly condemn this, however he is concerned about all people. The goal for this lesson today is understand a little bit more about the thinking and beliefs of the people of Nepal. Many of them live in fear. They are afraid that their gods will harm them if they don't worship them. • Tell about the major festivals 'Dashain', 'Tihar/Diwali' and 'Holi' (Don't be shocked if you see parallels with Christmas and Easter in it. Many of the symbols we use during that time are not based on the bible but on idol worshipping like the Christmas tree, candles, painted eggs etc. ) See additional information for explanation. • The Christians in Nepal are not celebrating these festivals and are very strongly against taking a 'tika' This is one of the red dots on your forehead that you get after you get a blessing from the temple. • Make a colourful painting or drawing worshipping the one and only God. Use it in your exhibition during Christmas on what you have been learning about. • Continue your fund raising activities. Ideas of how to present this lesson. • Group discussion • Use a book or power point with some pictures of the festivals • Have a craft time with worship music playing in the background as an inspiration • Action according to previous plans Ideas of practical assignments that can go with the content of this lesson “homework”, things they can do independently on their own or in a group to apply what they have learned in the classroom • Depends on what your group action plan is 1 Lesson Six: Nepal , the Bible and us (2010) Additional information that might be helpful for the teacher (please adjust for the children you work with) Dashain: During Dashain the people celebrate good overcoming bad. Durga (the female god of power) kills the bad gods. Many ducks, chickens, goats, buffaloes and pigs are slaughtered and eaten after they have been offered at the temple. People visit many temples. A lot of tasty foods are eaten during this time. New clothes are bought. Also a blessing in the form of a tika (red dot on the forehead) is received from the elders. Children fly homemade kites from their flatroofed houses and large swings made from bamboo poles are erected on open spaces in villages and towns. See: http://www.nepalhomepage.com/society/festivals/dashain.html Tihar/Diwali: Tihar lasts for 5 days and different animals are worshipped during the first 3 days. The crow, the dog and cow have special foods given to them on their days and dos and cows can be seen with red dots on their heads and garlands of flowers around their necks. On the 4th day of the festival, which is called the festival of lights, the whole house is decorated with candles or oil lamps to invite Laxmi, the goddess of wealth, to enter the house. The candles are burning the whole night. Sisters give a tika (red dot on the forehead) to their brothers and thus a blessing. They also give them food and wish them well. The brothers in turn give new clothes to their sisters. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwali and http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/religion/hinduism/diwali.shtml http://www.nepalvista.com/travel/tihar.html Holi: The festival of colours. This festival is celebrated at the end of winter with the purpose of washing away bad things and celebrating new hope and new life in spring. People throw water at each other to celebrate. Usually the water is coloured and thus people look quite colourful at this day with all kinds of dye all over their bodies. The children love this festival, if you want to keep your clothes clean and nice this is the day to stay inside. See also:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holi Remarks Find a few books on Hinduism in your local library so your children can get informed. Have appropriate craft materials ready and a cd player and worship music to play during craft time 2 Lesson Six: Nepal , the Bible and us (2010) Street dog being worshipped at Dashain To attract the gods to their house 3 .