This week has been culture week. We have had a great time learning all about Buddhism. We have focused our learning on Buddhism festivals and places of worship.
The children have enjoyed learning about Nirvana day. Nirvana Day is an annual Buddhist festival that remembers the death of the Buddha when he reached Nirvana at the age of 80. Nirvana is believed to be the end of the cycle of death and rebirth. Buddhism teaches that Nirvana is reached when all want and suffering is gone. Most Buddhists celebrate Nirvana Day on the 15th February.
We also found out about the Buddhist celebration of Wesak. Wesak celebrates the Buddha's birthday and, for some Buddhists, also marks his enlightenment and death. It is also called Buddha Day. Wesak is the most important of the Buddhist festivals and is celebrated on the full moon in May. After learning about this important festival, the children created their own full moon painting.
Next, we learned about the Buddhist way of worship. Many Buddhists go to the temple to worship Buddha. They give offerings of flowers or candles and take part in meditation. They also discovered that all though many Buddhists visit a temple during weddings and festivals. Many Buddhists have a shrine or place of worship in their own home. This shrine will include a statue of Buddha, incense and candles. This allows Buddhists to take part in worship every day.
From this work we created our own image of a Buddhist temple. We used the bright colours in the background to show enlightenment and Buddhists constant strive toward Nirvana!
The children also created their own Tibetan prayer flags, which included a personal mantra and animal symbols. These animals represented different personal attributes, such as fearlessness, healing, positiveness, kindness and confidence. These are unique to Tibetan Buddhists. These prayer flags date back thousands of years to the Bon tradition of pre-Buddhist Tibet. Priests used primary coloured cloth flags in healing ceremonies. Each colour represented a different primary element of earth, water, fire, air and space. These prayer flags would be seen in Buddhist temples and used during worship by Buddhists.
Finally, the child took part in some mediation, they sat quietly and thought about their lives and people close to them. They listened to their breathing, paid attention to their body and their feelings or the current of ideas and images that moves through the mind
Just like Buddha did, they tried to use the means of mediation to gain enlightenment and calm in their lives.