Rita - Hinduism
Introducing Rita
Introduce Rita to the children and build a persona for her. Record the details of Rita’s life in a small book e.g.
Name: Rita
Age: 5
Appearance: eyes, hair etc. Long straight black hair, brown eyes
Favourite Foods: coconut barfi
Favourite Activities: Indian dancing, judo
Family: - brothers /sisters/parent(s), occupation(s). Lives with extended family – e.g. grandparents who came to England from Gujarat in India
Religion: Hindu
Language: English and some Urdu
(Plus anything else you think significant.)
Every time you bring Rita out to be with the children you will need to bring his back pack or bag which will contain the artefacts/books that will help you teach particular lessons.
The first time you introduce Rita you might include in the bag some common objects that most little girls might carry around with them e.g. hair decorations, small doll etc
Special Times
Puja
Resources: incense sticks, puja set, sugar lumps, kum-kum paste or powder, fruit, flowers
Seat Rita with the children. From Rita’s bag take the incense stick.
Do you know what this is and what will happen when we light it?
Light the incense stick.
What can you smell/see? Rita loves the smell of a burning incense stick because it reminds her of a very special time in her day.
Early in the morning when Rita has just got up and washed and dressed herself she goes to a special place in her living room and sits with her family in front of a little shrine. (Show picture or photograph of a home shrine.)
Because this is a special time when all the family come to worship God, everybody is very quiet and still.
Rita’s Mum has some important things to do so Rita sits very still to watch her.
Perform the actions demonstrating to the children what Rita’s Mother does. Show the children a puja tray with a bell, an arti lamp, some kum kum powder and the flowers ( can be artificial) and fruit, the water and sugar lumps
Rita’s Mum rings the bell, lights the incense stick and lights the lamp. She mixes some of the paste and places some (with the third finger of her right hand) onto the head of Lord Krishna and onto her own head .
Rita is allowed to place the flowers the fruit and the water and sugar lumps in front of Lord Krishna.
This is a special and holy time for Rita - a time for remembering God and for saying thank-you to God for all the good things that he gives - for food and water, for light, and for all the beautiful things to see in the world.
Rita’s Mum shows how thankful they are by moving the arti lamp in a circular motion three times in front of Lord Krishna.
Before they leave their shrine Rita lies down in front of Lord Krishna (demonstrate with doll) making sure that her body is very still and straight. She is showing how much she loves God.
Then Rita gets ready for school but she is happy that at the beginning of the day she has spent time with her family coming close to God.
What are the important parts of the day for you and your family?
Who do you say thank-you to and how do you show your thanks?
Raksha Bhandan
Resources: a raki,
Sit Rita with the children. From Rita’s bag take a raki.
What do you think this might be? It is called a raki. It is a special bracelet that Rita has made for her older brother, Ramu. Her Mum helped her to make it.
Rita loves her big brother very much because he always tries to take care of her. He helps her with her reading and other schoolwork and sometimes if he is not too busy he will play her favourite games with her. Ramu often takes Rita to school and makes sure that she crosses the road safely. Ramu looks after Rita in all the ways he can.
Rita will give her raki to Ramu on a special celebration day - Raksha Bandhan. This is a very happy day for all the family. Rita helps her Mum prepare special food for the family.
Under her bed she will put a wrapped present for all the members of her family (you could wrap some simple presents with persona dolls for family members) and she has made a card to wish everyone in her family a happy time on Raksha Bhandan day.
Rita loves this special day of celebration because it is a time when all the family show how much they love and care for each other. Sometimes of course Rita quarrels with Ramu like all brothers and sisters but Raksha Bhandan is a time for forgetting their quarrels and a time for making each other feel really special.
As Rita ties the raki onto Ramu's right wrist she says a special prayer to thank God for her brother. What do you think she might say in the prayer?
The children could talk about ways to make brothers and sisters feel special. Make a simple raki or card.
Divali 1
Resources: diva lamp, figures of Rama, Sita, Lakshmana, Hanuman
Seat Rita with the children. From Rita’s bag take a diva lamp. Light the wick for the children to see.
Today Rita has brought this little lamp for you to see. Shall we light it?
In Rita’s house they will soon be celebrating the festival of Divali. At Divali lots of these little lights will shine in Rita‘s house to celebrate the beginning of the Hindu new year.
There is a lot for Rita and her family to do to get ready for Divali. The house must be cleaned and food prepared but although everyone is very busy Rita loves this time because it is a chance for her to hear again the story of Prince Rama which is always told at this time. From Rita’s bag take some small figures of Rama, Sita and Lakshmana.
Once there was a handsome Prince called Rama who was married to a beautiful princess called Sita. The King who ruled the land where they lived hated Prince Rama and Princess Sita and he sent them away from his kingdom. Prince Rama and Princess Sita went with Rama’s brother Lakshmana deep into a forest, where they ate berries and drank from sparkling streams.
One day Prince Rama and Lakshmana went off hunting. Sita was left alone in the forest. Ravanna, the ten headed demon had been waiting for his chance to capture Sita and when he saw that she was alone he swooped down to kidnap her. He took her to the island of Lanka where he kept her a prisoner in his tower.
When Rama came back and found Sita gone he was angry and upset. He called on his friend Hanuman, the monkey king, to help. Hanuman was glad to come to the aid of his friend Rama and with the help of all the monkeys in the forest he built a bridge to the island of Lanka, so that Rama and Lakshmana could cross. When Rama arrived, Ravanna was waiting and there was a terrible battle. Finally Rama killed the wicked Ravanna and rescued Sita from the tower. Together with Lakshmana, Rama and Sita returned to their own country where all the people lit lamps to welcome them home.
Who was good /evil in the story? Why do you think Rita enjoys this story so much?
Rita loves this story because she loves all stories about Prince Rama and Sita. For Rita and her family and for all Hindus Rama is God. Rita believes that Rama looks after her and her family and protects them from evil just as he protected Sita in the story.
The children could:
- make a diva - light them all together and share together how we can make,
- good things happen,
- use drama to retell the story.
Divali 2
Resources: figure of Lakshmi
Sit Rita with the children. From Rita’s bag take a murti or picture of Lakshmi.
This is the Goddess Lakshmi. What can you notice about her? When it is Divali time at Rita’s house Rita will help her Mum to clean the house, prepare special food and then decorate the rooms with tinsel , coloured lights, paper streamers etc. a lamps are placed on all the windowsills to welcome Lakshmi to the house.
Lakshmi is important to Rita and her family, just as Rama is important to them (recap from previous teaching). Rita has a picture of Lakshmi in her house too and sometimes they place offerings of food and sometimes money in front of her just as they place fruit and flowers in front of Lord Krishna. For Rita and her family, Lakshmi is God, just as Rama and Krishna are God too. What a lot of ways Hindus have to know what God is like. The family pray to Lakshmi, especially at Divali. Lakshmi has four arms; Rita believes that this shows that God is more powerful than human beings.
Do you remember the story of Rama and Sita and of how when they returned to their kingdom there was a great celebration, and their way was lit with little lamps
When Rama and Sita returned, Lakshmi came to the kingdom too, to bring peace, happiness and prosperity to the people.
In Rita’s house the family hope that Lakshmi will come to visit them. They will place lights in their windows and along their garden path to welcome her. They hope she will come to make the new year that is just beginning a happy one
The children could:
- talk about their own ideas of God.
- invite a Hindu visitor to the class and prepare a warm welcome for them
- create some rangoli patterns with coloured rice, sawdust, glitter etc. (an activity that Rita enjoys doing particularly at Divali)
Special Places
Mandir
Resources-Photographs of the mandir
Seat Rita with the children and from her bag take out a photograph of the mandir.
Today Rita has brought you a picture of the place where she and her family go to worship God. It is called the mandir.
When Rita arrives at the mandir with her family the first thing she does is take off her shoes and put them in the shoe rack.
When she sees the priest she greets him in the Hindu way by putting her hands together and by bowing, saying “Namaste” (demonstrate with doll).
In the mandir Rita sees many pictures, statues of the gods and goddesses (murtis) and lots of colourful decorations. The gods and goddesses are very important because Rita says that each one helps her to know something special about God.
The family put their hands together to greet the murtis.
The priest lights incense sticks (like Rita does at home for her puja everyday).
Then the oil lamp is lit and waved around so that light is offered to the murtis in the arti ceremony and received by the people who pass their hand over the flame, then over their faces, eyes and head. Some people play musical instruments and a special prayer is said.
Rita’s family will bring some food to offer to the gods and goddesses. They give this food to the priest who will put it before the gods and goddesses. Rita knows that they do not need the food to eat but offering it to them shows how much they are loved and how thankful Rita and her family are for all that God gives them.
Before and after puja Rita hears the priest sing a special sound: “aum”. Hindus believe that this is the first sound that was ever made. This sound helps Hindus feel close to God.
After puja Rita and everybody else there has some special sweet – prashad. Rita looks forward to this because she enjoys the sweet taste of the food.
The children could:
- draw a favourite murti and write a few sentences about them,
- make and taste some prashad,
- talk about ways in which they greet people.
Special Books/People
Krishna 1
Resources: story book about Krishna, figure of Krishna
Sit Rita in a circle with the children. From Rita’s bag take a storybook about Krishna.
Today Rita has brought one of her favourite stories to share with you. It is a story about Lord Krishna but Rita especially enjoys this story because it shows that even someone as special as Lord Krishna could have fun and even be quite naughty when he was little.
Read or tell the story:
One day when Krishna was just a little boy living in India his Mum churned some milk to make some fresh butter. She put it in a pot where it would keep cool and she put the pot on a high shelf so that Krishna could not reach it , or so she thought. Krishna was a very curious little boy, always wanting to find out about everything. When he saw the pot on the high shelf he was curious to know what was inside. So he climbed on a stool and reached up to the little pot but oh dear, as he put his hand on the pot to pull it down, he knocked it to the floor with a crash!
Then Krishna saw the lovely golden butter that his mother had made. He dipped his hands into it and crawled into a corner to eat it. It tasted rich and creamy and he was enjoying the butter very much, when a monkey wandered into the house and Krishna began to share his butter with the monkey.
When Krishna’s mother saw what was happening she was very cross with Krishna and to keep him out of mischief she took a piece of rope and tried to tie him to the table leg. But it seemed that as she struggled to do this Krishna was getting bigger and bigger before her eyes and the rope would not fit around him.
Rita knows that this is because Krishna is all powerful and everywhere in time and space, so that it is impossible to tie him up. Krishna could never be prevented from doing anything he wished and certainly could not be stopped by tying him with ropes. But Krishna loved his mother and so he secretly smiled to himself and allowed her to fasten the rope around him so that she could think that he was safe. As soon as Krishna’s mother had finished what she was doing she undid the rope and gave him a great big hug.