Divali assortment

I know some folk of any given faith prefer to protect their children from the idea that other people believe differently to them, but that's not for me. I think my children are perfectly able to understand that although I believe that I have found The Truth, I trust them to come to their own conclusions and I have neither inclination or authority to condemn anyone who disagrees with me.

That I feel I have to say all that at all, here where most folks know what I believe and also that I have no desire to rant at anyone about it no matter how passionately I believe it, has much to do with this Sunday and some Church Politics Stuff which makes me frankly want to run for the hills.

On to happier things, before I start to put people off Anglicanism. ;)

We have been doing some crafts and stories and stuff surrounding the recent Divali celebrations. I want the children to have a good idea where other people are coming from, and to value and respect the traditions of others. Although I have no intention of attemptiong to totally replicate (or in fact practice) other faiths, I'd like to give the girls a view of what is out there and an impression of a culture outside our own. That sounds totally pretentious. Ah well, it stands, because it's true and I mean well and I hope it works!

There were more photos than this, but these are what I can find. We made little oil lamps, and didn't put oil in them because I thought the paint might possibly be flamable.We did sand and coloured salt rangali (on paper) and put them in our doorways to welcome visitors.We made indian food, tried on a sari, and of course the henna came out again. I wish I could find those pictures, must have had upload issues! The pictures of our home-made shadow puppets didn't work at all, but the puppets themselves were fun. We used them to tell the story of Rama and Sita, and lit a trail of candles to show them the way home. Jenna made decorations from glittery pipe cleaners, without any such suggestions from me!