Lesson in Appreciating Others: The students will have an opportunity to reflect on what their favorite part of Christmas is and what they think is most important. Similar to the Rastafarian Christmas, the most important part of Christmas for us is family. Although the Rastafarians have a different religion than us, we are all alike in the sense that we just want to be around family during Christmastime. We should appreciate all other because although they may look different or celebrate differently than we do, we all work toward the same goal and beliefs: Family is important and we all just want to be loved. CHINESE NEW YEAR JANUARY Brief Description of the Activity: What will you do with the children? In this activity, the students will be read the In this activity, the students will the traditions of the Chinese New Year by enacting the parade of the dancing dragon. The students will read the books about the holiday and learn about the “dancing dragon.” Then the students will work in groups of 4 and create a dragon costume that will fit all of them. The students will show off their costume while creating a dance and taking turns under the head of the dragon. Country (Culture) (Religion) of Origin: This holiday is part of the Chinese culture and it celebrates the beginning of a new calendar year. The traditions of this holiday originated from a myth of a beast call Nian. “Nian would come on the first day of New Year to eat livestock, crops, and even villagers, especially children. To protect themselves, the villagers would put food in front of their doors at the beginning of every year. It was believed that after the Nian ate the food they prepared, it wouldn’t attack any more people. One time, people saw that the Nian was scared away by a little child wearing red. The villagers then understood that the Nian was afraid of the color red. Hence, every time when the New Year was about to come, the villagers would hang red lanterns and red spring scrolls on windows and doors. People also used firecrackers to frighten away the Nian. From then on, Nian never came to the village again. The Nian was eventually captured by Hongjun Laozu, an ancient Taoist monk. The Nian became Hongjun Laozu's mount.”
for veterans or sick patients. Also, we can make an Ayyam-I-Ha countdown chart filled with fun facts and quotes, which is something that Baha’i families often do. Country (Culture) (Religion) of Origin: Baha’i Maggie Celebrates Ayyam-I-Ha Patti Rae Tomarelli The Camel Cher Holt-Fortin The Giving Book: Open the Door to a Lifetime of Giving Ellen Sabin Web Sites: http://www.planetbahai.org/cgi-bin/articles.pl?article=54 http://bahai-invitation.com/feast/ha/ayyamiha00.html http://www.incultureparent.com/2011/01/ayyam-i-ha-craft-advent-style- banner/ Extension Activities: (Describe a specific activity that will connect this celebration to your students’ Use these activities to reinforce and follow up the original activity above.) I that bringing this idea of service into the classroom during various holidays around the world will help students relate the gift-giving holidays back to giving to others that are really in need. I.e. for Christmas, we can learn about the holiday and then go sing carols at a nursing home or hospital. The idea that everyone needs to give back will be reinforced by a number of holidays from all different religions and cultures. Lesson in Appreciating Others: (Describe how you will assist children in accepting, appreciating, and finding value in others who are different than they.) I that teaching about the camel that brings the Baha’i children’s presents is important. By comparing this back to the gifts children receive from Santa, we can see the similarities between the two religions. This holiday has such intrinsic value in it and by teaching its roots and about why giving is important and should be celebrated by everyone we can see that not only Baha’i people have celebrations like this one.