Y7 -  Special Journeys

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Religious Studies at KS 3 - an Outline

Y7 - 9 Assignments and  Information

This page will explain all about the unit of work on Special Journeys.  It will also lead you to the specific assignments you have to do.  To access those assignments please click on the relevant picture next to the title.

What we are going to do is find out why people take such journeys, what they involve and whether we too might make a journey like this. We will also use some of the ideas to examine our own "journey through life" to see what we can learn about our selves and how we live

The first thing to do is to make a distinction between journeys that we take every day and "special" journeys.   

A special journey always has a very specific reason and the destination is important to  the person going or possibly to thousands of people. The journey nearly always involves long preparation and often presents a challenge. A special journey is also more than simply a journey to a holiday place. Going on Holiday is fun and may have a variety of purposes but the journeys that we are going to learn about have very important  meanings for the people who go on them

First of all we are going to think about some special journeys that are not particularly religious simply to get the idea why people go on journeys that are difficult, challenging, meaningful, or just simply "one-in-a-lifetime". 

1.   Explain in a few sentences why people might go to the following places:-

-   A family grave 
-   The place of their Grandparents birth
-   Wembly Stadium in London
-   Ayers Rock in Australia
-   Mount Fuji in Japan
-   Battlefields in Europe

2.   Find out about the following places:-

1. Mt. Everest

2. Colorado River - White water rafting

3. War Graves in Europe

4. Pyramids of Egypt

5. Olympic Games (The last country to host them)

6. Peru - The Inca Cities

7. The North Pole

Task:-  Select one of these places and imagine that you are going to journey to them.  Write TWO long diary entries, firstly of all the preparations you make and what challenges lie ahead and secondly  on the last day of the journey when you return home about what you feel like and your experiences.  The whole piece should be about 500 words long.

3.    What have you found so far about the characteristics of special journeys and what people feel like when they go on them.

PILGRIMAGES

Special journeys in religions are called Pilgrimages.  They are taken by people who want to go to a place because they feel it is spiritually important to them.  Pilgrimages have been around for a long time as the following Indian picture shows

4.     What sort of reasons might a "religious person" give for going to a special place for pilgrimage. 

5.     Do you think it matters if many people go to a religious site at the same time.  Give some reasons for you answer.

6.     Would you prefer to go to a special religious place on your own or with a crowd of others who think like you do?  Why or why not?

7.     Do you think the journey should involve preparation, if so what sort of things might a religious person do to prepare themselves?

Now you are ready to examine so details of religious pilgrimages

        A journey to Israel

        Islam  -  The Hajj

A Buddhist Pilgrimage