I can’t claim to have grown up with much awareness of religious diversity, and I can’t claim to be one way better or worse off for it, but I do know that my children are growing up in a much different way and in a very different place to the close, conservative, and supportive community that I did, so I think it’s important for them to learn two things: 1) Tolerance for other religions, 2) an understanding of other religions in relation to what I believe, and what I hope they will believe. Religious observances are also different now, and sometimes more commercial – for example the Colour Run, based on the Holli celebration, or locally, we have Electric Woods, where Robin Hill lights up the autumn nights inspired by Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights. While we could just go and enjoy the prettiness, I think there’s value in explaining what it is that we’re exposing ourselves to, so that the children can learn something about ‘other people’. As it was, the Electric Woods event saw us walking through the woods at Robin Hill enjoying the cold evening air, listening to music and looking at light displays. It was a lovely evening out, fuelled by hot chocolate.
The video is great – it tells the story of Rama’s exhile, Sita’s kidnapping, her rescue and the eventual return to their kingdom as rulers. There are fabulous themes in this story, including loyalty, working together and, of course, the triumph of good over evil, which is what Diwali is all about, after all.
Twinkl has great resources for Diwali – we were able to quickly download and print the Diwali story to create a storyboard. This is such a useful way of checking their understanding of the story and also of quickly recapping it.