As we continue with our Religious Education course on celebrations and festivals of faith, let me draw your attention to some of the classes we’ve had since I last wrote. We learned the differences between All Saints Day, All Souls Day, and Day of the Dead which are celebrated on November 1 and 2. We followed this lesson with one on Diwali, the Festival of Lights. Our students created their own rangolis on the pavement outside our kitchen door. After that we learned about the Day of the Hajj (November 15) and Eid-ul-Adha (November 17). The students practiced the Moslem prayer ritual and learned about the Five Pillars of Islam.

We then discovered the history of the celebration of Thanksgiving in the “new world” from various points of view. That was followed by a class on Hanukkah (December 2-9), another festival of lights, and our students “gambled” with a dreidel. We touched on Zen Buddhism with a class on Bodhi Day (December 8), which is the observance of the enlightenment of the historical Buddha. We finished 2010 with a class on Kwanzaa (December 26-January 1).

Our students presented a Kwanzaa service to the fellowship on December 19, during which they discussed the history, symbols, and principles of the celebration. I hope you all enjoyed some sort of New Year’s celebration for the new year on the “western” calendar. We’ve got more new year’s celebrations to celebrate in the coming months, too!