Swapna Haddow - All about Diwali: Things to Make and Do

FOR ME BECAUSE NOBODY LOVES DIWALI BURFI MORE THAN ME - SH I DEDICATE THIS BOOK TO MY INDIAN HERITAGE, FAMILY AND FRIENDS. SHUBH DEEPAVALI! - AKB Published in the UK by Scholastic, 2021 Euston House, 24 Eversholt Street, London, NW1 1DB Scholastic Ireland, 89E Lagan Road, Dublin Industrial Estate, Glasnevin, Dublin, D11 HP5F SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc. Text Swapna Haddow, 2021 Illustrations by Aditi Kakade Beaufrand, Scholastic, 2021 ISBN 978 0702 31350 9 A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any other means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without prior written permission of Scholastic Limited.

Printed by Bell & Bain Ltd, 303 Burnfield Road, Thornliebank, Glasgow, G46 7UQ Paper made from wood grown in sustainable forests and other controlled sources. 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 www.scholastic.co.uk * Printable fill-in activity pages can be found: www.scholastic.co.uk/AllAboutDiwaliActivities This copy of All About diwali: Things to Make and Do belongs to: Learn all about the Diwali festivals celebrated by millions of Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists all over the world every year, and the events that lead up to them! This book is packed full of crafts and delicious recipes for you to make and share with friends and family. Dont forget: you can find definitions of the words in bold in the glossary at the back of the book. diwali around the world Diwali is a festival celebrated by billions of people around the world, although it first originated in India. It is celebrated by many Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists. As you can imagine there are lots of different Diwali stories and countless ways that Diwali is observed, though good overcoming evil and light finding its way through darkness is central to all celebrations.

The festival is also known as Deepavali, which is the Sanskrit word for row of lights. The city of Ayodhya in India once earned a Guinness World Record for lighting 300,000 lamps for Diwali. Each year, the date of Diwali changes but the festival usually happens sometime in October or November. DID YOU KNOW? There are approximately 1.2 billion Hindus living around the world, with over a million Hindus living in the UK. There are around 30 million Sikhs worldwide and over 80% live in India. hindu diwali Hinduism is one of the oldest religions in the world. hindu diwali Hinduism is one of the oldest religions in the world.

It is based on an ancient, sacred text called the Vedas . Hinduism is a religion of many gods but Hindus believe that there is one supreme being of which the gods are incarnations. With over a billion Hindus worldwide, people come together to observe Diwali for many different reasons, but the idea of good vanquishing evil and light finding its way through darkness is a common theme. Here are some of the more popular Hindu stories behind Diwali: The Legend of rama and sita Long ago, in the Indian city of Ayodhya, Prince Rama was getting ready to take the throne, as his father had become ill. However, his stepmother had other ideas and before Rama could be crowned king, she commanded that he be banished from the kingdom for fourteen years so her son could be king instead. Rama, his wife Sita and his brother Lakshman obediently left Ayodhya, much to the dismay of the people of Ayodhya who adored the prince.

Rama, Sita and Lakshman lived happily for many years in the forest. But when the two demons King Ravana and his sister Shurpanakha arrived, their troubles began. The ten-headed Ravana kidnapped Sita and trapped her in his palace on the island of Lanka. Rama and Lakshman set out to rescue her immediately. They were aided on their journey by the monkey king, Hanuman, whose army of monkeys helped the brothers build a bridge to the island of Lanka and find Sita. A huge deadly battle broke out as Rama took on Ravana, but with good on his side he defeated the evil king and rescued Sita.

By this time, Ramas banishment was over and it was time to return to Ayodhya to take his place as the rightful king. The people of the kingdom were overjoyed to have their prince return and lit his way home with candles and clay diyas , which is why the lighting of diyas is so important at Diwali. the legend of krishna The gods were in despair as the world was in turmoil. Narakasura, who had been granted immortality by the gods, spent his days terrorising the people of the Earth. The gods pleaded with Krishna and his wife, Satyabhama, to face the demon in a huge battle. Krishna fought hard and weakened Narakasura, but could not vanquish him because of his immortality.

But when Satyabhama saw Krishna hurt on the battlefield, she shot a fatal arrow, which took Narakasura down.