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DIWALI

The Festival of Lights

 

FACTS - PICTURES - VOCABULARY -
POWERPOINT PRESENTATIONS - LEGENDS and STORIES - POEMS -
INTERACTIVE ACTIVITIES - ACTIVITIES TO PRINT - LESSON PLANS - WEBQUESTS -
INTERACTIVE GAMES - GAMES TO PRINT - RECIPES - VIDEOS

(Updated on 18/12/2011)

 


Related pages :

India

 

 

FACTS :

 

  • Regional variations within India : "The celebrations vary in different regions..." (Wikipedia)


  • "In Britain, Hindus and Sikhs celebrate Diwali with great enthusiasm and in most ways very similarly to as in India. People clean and decorate their homes with lamps and candles.
    A popular type of candle used to represent this holiday is a diya.
    People also give each other sweets such as laddoo and barfi, and the different communities may gather from around the country for a religious ceremony and get-together.
    It is also an important time to contact family in India and perhaps exchange gifts through the post...
    Leicester plays hosts to some of the biggest celebrations outside of India itself.
    Diwali also coincides closely enough with the British Guy Fawkes (Bonfire Night) traditions on November the 5th that in many areas, such as the East End of London, a kind of joint festival has evolved where everyone celebrates and enjoys the same fire and fireworks for their own diverse reasons."
    (Wikipedia)

  • Diwali, Divali, Dewali, Deepavali (Buddhism, Hindu, India)
    "Diwali is a five day Hindu festival which occurs on the fifteenth day of Kartika. Diwali means "rows of lighted lamps" and the celebration is often referred to as the Festival of Lights..."
    (www3.kumc.edu)

  • THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHT - DIWALI - with a slideshow
    "The original Ramayana story had 50,000 verses to it. You can read a much shorter version of it here..."  
    (freeuk.net)

 

  • Diwali - Festival Fun
    "Different colorful varieties of fireworks are always associated with this festival. On this auspicious day, people light up diyas and candles all around their house.
    They perform Laxmi Puja in the evening and seek divine blessings of Goddess of Wealth.
    The festival od Diwali is never complete without exchange of gifts. People present diwali gifts to all near and dear ones."
    (diwalifestival.org)

 

  • The Festival of Diwali : "Neelu, 10, lives in India and talks about what goes on during the festival of Diwali."
    (news.bbc.co.uk)
  • Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, "is the most popular of all the festivals from South Asia, and is also the occasion for celebrations by Jains and Sikhs as well as Hindus."
    (news.bbc.co.uk)
  • Diwali - " The festival celebrates the victory of good over evil, light over darkness and knowledge over ignorance, although the actual legends that go with the festival are different in different parts of India."
    (bbc.co.uk)


    Traditional Indian sweets
  • The Build-up to Diwali (indolinks.com)
    "Festivity is in the air as Jaipur gears up for this most important of all Hindu festivals. The annual house-cleaning done (Diwali's a great time to find misplaced things!), the city seems to be on a shopping spree."

 

  • Diwali - 5th November 2010 : Questions answered
    Why isn't Diwali celebrated on the same date each year?
    What is the story of King Rama and the demon Ravana?
    (bbc.co.uk)

 

  • The Symbolism of Durga's Weapons
    "In Hinduism, Goddess Durga is regarded as the mother of the universe, and believed to be the power behind the work of creation, preservation, and destruction of the world."
    (hinduism.about.com)

 

 

PICTURES :

 

 

 


VOCABULARY :

  • India - Vocabulary cards (primaryresources.co.uk)
    Si le lien est inaccessible, cliquer sur "GEOGRAPHY RESOURCES / Around the World"

 

 

POWERPOINT PRESENTATIONS :

  • Diwali (primaryresources.co.uk)
    Si le lien est inaccessible, cliquer sur "R.E. RESOURCES / Hinduism"

 

  • Indian Rangoli patterns (primaryresources.co.uk)
    "During Diwali, Hindus draw bright Rangoli patterns on the floor by the front door to encourage the goddess Lakshmi to enter their homes."

 

 

LEGENDS and STORIES :

 

  • Hinduism Worksheets :
    The Story of Prahlad and Holika
    The Story of Rama and Sita
    (bbc.co.uk) 

 

  • THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHT - DIWALI - with a slideshow
    "The original Ramayana story had 50,000 verses to it. You can read a much shorter version of it here..."  
    (freeuk.net)



 

POEMS :

 

 

INTERACTIVE ACTIVITIES :

  • Diwali (ngfl-cymru.org.uk)
    "Interactive activities for whiteboard or computer on the story of Rama and Sita and how Hindus celebrate Diwali today. 
    Activities are differentiated at various levels. They include an electronic version of the story, discussion topics on the meaning of Diwali, matching and sequencing activities, multiple choice question games, creating nativity pictures, matching pairs games and jigsaws."


 

 

ACTIVITIES TO PRINT :

  • Hinduism Worksheets :
    Diwali Clothes
    Diwali Letter Writing Activity
    Hindu Gods and Goddesses
    The Story of Prahlad and Holika
    The Story of Rama and Sita
    (bbc.co.uk) 
  • Diwali - A short text : "Fill in the missing blanks using the words at the bottom of the page."
    (primaryresources.co.uk)
  • Festivals of Light : Resource packs "around 4 Festivals of Light: Diwali, Hanukkah, Saint Lucia and theGunpowder Plot, from the Symbols Inclusion Project.
    (widgit.com)

    This pack contains materials about four Festivals of Light.

    • Diwali : 19 activities including stories, a play script, picture and vocabulary books and activities for individual and small group work.
    • Hanukkah : 9 activities including the story of Hanukkah in a text and symbol supported versions, plus activities for individuals and small groups.
    • Saint Lucia : 8 activities including a story, wordsearch and information on the festival of St Lucia
    • Gunpowder Plot : 11 activities including stories, individual and groupwork. This includes a firework safety leaflet as well as a recipe and quiz.

In each set there are a number of resources for whole class work, small groups and independent workers. 
There are symbol - supported stories, text onlystories, information sheets, recipes, crosswords, word searches and many more."

 

 

LESSON PLANS :

 

 

WEBQUESTS :

  • Diwali 1 - Diwali 2 (my-english-courses.com)
    Click on 'Special India Project' - N° 13

 

 

INTERACTIVE GAMES :

  • Diwali - matching pairs games and jigsaws. (ngfl-cymru.org.uk)

 

 

GAMES TO PRINT :

 

 

RECIPES :

 

 

 

VIDEOS :

 

Diwali - animation
(britishcouncil.org)

 

 

Southall celebrates Diwali
"Navdeep Singh Kandola visits Southall to see how the west London borough's
Hindu, Sikh and Jain communities celebrate the 'festival of light'."
(guardian.co.uk)

 

 

Origin of Diwali - with an animation (YouTube)
"This presentation shows the Origin of Diwali
from the great Hindu Epic Ramayana
and how Diwali is celebrated in India now.
Video Clips in this presentation are taken
from "Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama (1992)"."

 
Diwali Video - The 5 days - Just look! (YouTube)