Year 7 Spring Festivals

This Page:-

1. Holi

2. Pesach (Passover)

3. Easter

4. Baisakhi

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Festivals are a very important part of religion and human culture.  They are the times when the whole community comes together for a time of joy and celebration.  Festivals have a very long history and many began long before the present World Religions established their festivals.  This is reflected in the way that festivals that we celebrate now have a close link with the seasons,  i.e. winter, spring, harvest etc. For example Christmas, although it is a Christian celebration of the Birth of Jesus, it also has a great deal to do with the winter festival of Yuletide which was a Celtic festival celebrated long before Christianity came on the scene.

Springtime is a wonderful occasion for festivals because it is a time of warmth and growth after the cold and rather "dead" months of winter.  This would be especially true in cultures and societies which relied on farming for their livelihood. In modern day Hong Kong we are on remotely aware of the change in weather which brings in springtime, we might even notice some new flowers but not much else.  Even so we celebrate Chinese New year which has a great deal to with  clearing out the old year and the winter and preparing for the new year and spring time.

We have selected FOUR festivals for you to examine. They come from the Hindu, Jewish, Christian and Sikh Faiths. They all have stories which accompany them but they are also Spring festivals and this can be very clearly see in the celebrations.

 1.    HOLI                                   

This is a Hindu Spring festival and is both a time of great fun and colour. The picture below shows a crowd of people who have been throwing coloured powder all over each other. This is not all, bonfires and sweets are also a part.  Click on the picture to take you to information the assignments

2.    PESACH (passover)   

Passover is a very old festival and has been celebrated by Jews  for at least 3,400 years.  It celebrates the escape of Jews ( from Egypt during the time of the Pharaohs.  The most famous modern version of the story is the excellent film "The Prince of Egypt" by Dreamworks. This is well worth a look to understand the story that lies behind this important festival.  A meal (The Seder) lies at the heart of the celebration. Click on the plate to take you further.

3.    EASTER                       

Easter is really the most important Christian festival because it celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. It is a time of great joy around the Christian world and is the climax of a series of days when the last part of Jesus' life and and his crucifixion is remembered.  There is a lot more to Easter than Chocolate eggs,  Bunnies and Lambs!

4.    BAISAKHI