Autumn Festivals

Would you like to learn about different festivals that are celebrated in autumn? Read the following information  from http://www.bigeyedowl.co.uk/Festivals-autumn.htm and complete the table about festivals in your notebooks:

 

Chinese Festival of the Autumn Moon (15 September 2016) During September or October at full moon, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, the festival of the Autumn Moon is celebrated. It is celebrated partly like many autumn festivals as a festival of lights, and before sitting down to a feast, there is a procession where animal shaped lanterns are carried each containing a candle. Traditional food, including small round shaped rice cakes symbolising the full moon, is eaten during the celebration.  Rice cakes have a long history as they were once used to hide messages in, when the Chinese people were rebelling against their Mongol rulers.

        

Rosh Hashanah

3 October 2016 - first day)
Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year and starts on the first day of the month of Tishr. It marks  the beginning of a ten day period of repentance leading up to Yom Kippur.
The month leading up to Tishru is Elul, during which Jews prepare for Rosh Hashanah.  On every day in Elul, a ram's horn (the shofar) is blown to call the people to repent and start anew the coming year.

      

Bonfire night ( 5th November)

 Learn all about Bonfire night in Britain by clicking on this link

     

Follow this link to BBC Learning English to learn more about Guy Fawkes and Bonfire Night:  https://twitter.com/bbcle/status/794595640093372416

Answer these questions about Guy Fawkes:

Who was Guy Fawkes?
What was the name of the king?
What was the king´s religion?
What did Guy Fawkes try to do?
Where did he plan to put a bomb?
Why did the plan fail?
Where did the soldiers take him?
What happened to Guy Fawkes?

Now try this online quiz by ESOL Courses to see how much you have learnt

Thanksgiving

 

 

(10 October 2016 in Canada; 24 November 2016 in USA)
Thanksgiving or harvest celebrations have been taking place in Europe as far back as the 5th century BCE when the Ancient Greeks would fill a goats horn with fruit and grain to give thanks for the harvest. The tradition was then introduced in North America by the european settlers.
A festival of Thanksgiving was celebrated by the Pilgrims in 1621 in Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA. They had arrived in 1620 looking to start a new life, where they could be free to follow their religious beliefs.  Their first winter was very hard but they survived with the help of the Native Indians who had shown them how to hunt and what plants they could eat. After the first harvest the Pilgrims held a feast to celebrate their good fortune and to give thanks for the food that they had grown.
At the feast they ate Turkey, pumpkins, corn, cranberries and sweet potatoes.
Thanksgiving is celebrated by Canadians in October and in America on the last Thursday of the month of  November.
Today, most peoples' Thanksgiving meal is almost the same as that of the Pilgrims, with a turkey and cranberry sauce and a selection of autumn vegetables, followed by Pumpkin or Apple pie.

         

 

Thanksgiving Summary

 

• Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November each year.
• It is a holiday which honors the early European settlers and their first harvest feast with the Native Americans which we call The First Thanksgiving
• The Native Americans had been living in America for over 12,000 years so they knew how to hunt, fish, and grow crops
• A group of 101 English men, women and children sailed over to the new land and landed at Plymouth Rock where they met the Native Americans around the year 1621
• The Native Americans taught the English people how to grow and hunt food and they formed an alliance
• They prepared a big, celebratory feast in honor of the new settlement and new friendships, and it has become an annual tradition ever since.

 

 

Typical Thanksgiving foods include turkey, gravy, stuffing, corn, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, salad, cranberries, pumpkin pie, and wine

Thanksgiving day is spent with family relaxing and watching American football and Thanksgiving parades.

 

• One common Thanksgiving Tradition is breaking the Wishbone. It is a bone in the Turkey´s chest which signifies good luck. Two people hold the Wishbone and pull… whoever ends up with the bigger side when it breaks apart will have good luck for the following year.

     

 

• Another tradition at the Thanksgiving dinner is for everyone to go around the table and say what they are thankful for
• You eat until you are stuffed and then sit around with family and talk, play games, or watch a Holiday movie

 

 

Watch this video about the story of the Pilgrims arriving in America:



Follow this link to watch another video from the History channel

Harvest Festival

This is a thanksgiving service for the completion of the Harvest. Christian Churches are usually filled with produce, grain and fruit and there is often a loaf baked in the shape of a sheaf of corn.

Diwali (Divali, Deepavali, Deepawali)

 

(30 October 2016)
Diwali (pronounced 'Divali') is the Hindu "Festival of Lights" and is one of India's most important and popular festivals. It falls at the new moon towards the end of October or early November and lasts for two days. In India Diwali is celebrated in many different ways.
Small lamps or candles are placed in doorways and windows of houses in villages, towns and cities these are to welcome the Hindu god Rama.  Many of the lights used are traditional pottery oil lamps called diye which give off a warm golden light.
In parts of Northern India, young girls place a diya on small rafts leave it to float down a river. If the lamp stays alight until it has floated out of sight, then the owner of the lamp will have good fortune that year.
In some areas the festival is also dedicated to Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity, in the hope that she will visit the peoples homes. Diwali is the beginning of the financial year for business people and it is hoped that she will bring good fortune.
Fireworks are part of the celebrations as their loud bangs are thought to send away any evil spirit.
While most of India is celebrating Diwali, in Bengal the people hold a festival in honour of Kali, the Goddess of strength, disease and death.
During the time of the festival homes are strung with lights and the streets have shrines of different sizes on each side.  Worshippers walk about the streets both throughout the daytime and the evening, offering gifts at the shrines in honour of Kali.  Delicious smelling food is sold by street vendors and as night descends there are very colourful firework displays.
At the end of the festival, the images of Kali are taken down and are paraded through the streets on their way to the river where they are set afloat with a noisy send-off.

Click on this link to learn more about Diwali from ESOL Courses