In Year 4 at Ecclesbourne, we have been learning about Deepavali or Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights. We found out that Deepavali is a very important holiday, not just in India, but now this festival is celebrated all over the world. It is a Hindu ‘festival of lights’ which celebrates the triumph of Good over Evil. The literal translation for Deepavali is Deepam (meaning light) and Vali (meaning path) and when the word is put together it means a path of lights. At this time of the year, Hindu people clean their homes, wear their favourite traditional clothes, light oil lamps called diyas and decorate with colourful rangoli patterns.
We had a very special Deepavali workshop lead by Mrs Roberts where we took part in some of these special activities. We listened to the story of Rama and Sita and how they returned home after defeating the demon king, Ravana. We dressed in saris, designed and sent Deepavali cards, created rangoli art and looked at Hindu artefacts. It was fun learning how different people celebrate their special festivals and how they are similar to other festivals that we know.
Niksha in Comets class said, “I had a fantastic time at the Deepavali workshop because we got to do really interesting activities, I particularly liked making rangoli art and Deepavali cards that we got to send to friends and our families. I loved dressing in a sari and wearing beautiful jewellery and bangles”. Thank you to Mrs. Roberts for making it such fun.”
