Celebrating festivals and events in schools has become an integral part of learning and building a strong cultural belief in a child. An important day is remembered by a child only when they understand the significance of the occasion. Apart from classroom activities, we also celebrate festivals and events in order to familiarise the child with our country’s culture and traditions.
Such celebrations will bring children closer to our traditions and cultural beliefs. A close bond is built between children as they understand each other’s customs. India being a diverse country, children need to know what each festival means, and it is only through these celebrations that he/she will get to know more about our country. Some festivals celebrated in the school are – Dussehra, Raksha Bandhan, Christmas, Sankranthi, Eid, etc.
The state of festivals today:
Today, festivals are like ‘Sale Seasons’ and ‘Big Discount Days’. We know more of local and regional festivals today than ever before, like say, for example, Varalakshmi Puja, Akshay Tritiya, Teej, Karwa Chauth, etc. than the regular ones like Ganesh Chaturthi, Christmas, Id-Ul-Fitr, Janmashtami simply because these are bumper days in the kitty of a marketing head. But how much do we really know about our festivals and their importance? How much of it can we actually pass on to our kids?
What can be done?
Nowadays we are more and more busy, families getting smaller with single kids and no siblings, we need to reflect and recreate the magic of growing up in innocent times by strengthening their imaginations. Let’s share our cultural and local foods and celebrate the big and small of every festival. Let’s fill our children’s lives with all the wonderful stories and moral values. We can dress up our kids, dress up our homes, look up the internet and try to re-create the magic just the way it was when we were little. Being knowledgable definitely has a thrill to it!
Apart from building relationships and friendships, such celebrations will bring happiness and love among children, friends and family.
