FESTIVALS
BILLABONG HIGH INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
Do festivals & celebrations in our
families and communities show
respect and tolerance for various
cultures and religions?
RESEARCH METHODS
Interviewing and asking people to fill out questionnaires
were out 2 main means of gathering information. We
believe that information we collect online may either be
biased or factually incorrect. This drove us to collect our
own information, interpret it, and form our own unique
conclusions
Besides handing out questionnaires, Each member
conducted interviewed of individuals from various
cultures and beliefs. This why we believe our research is
compressive and diverse .
PEOPLE INTERVIEWED
Name
Age
Aditya shankaraman
17
Ranjini Krishnaswamy
72
Aryaman tulpule
16
Andrea Atkins
35
Manisha joshi
44
Anita Ravi
45
Rajashri Rane
37
THESE ARE SOME OF THE STANDOUT
QUESTIONS FROM OUT QUESTIONNAIRE
• Which festival do you think is the most
significant?
• Which is your favorite festivals?
• Which religion do you belong to?
Festival popularity
12%
6%
32%
Diwali
15%
Ganesh chaturti
Christmas
35%
Eid
Navratri
HERES SOME INFORMATION ON THE
FESTIVALS WE RESEARCHED
NAVRATRI
• Navaratri is a festival dedicated to the worship of
the Hindu deity Durga. The word Navaratri means 'nine nights'
in Sanskrit, nava meaning nine and ratri meaning
nights. During these nine nights and ten days, nine forms
of Devi are worshiped.
• The beginning of spring and the beginning of autumn are
considered to be important junctions of climatic and solar
influences. These two periods are taken as sacred
opportunities for the worship of the Divine Mother Durga. The
dates of the festival are determined according to the lunar
calendar. on which each women follow tradition to wear nine
colours of dress on Navaratri.
DIWALI
• It is since ancient times that Diwali has been celebrated. It is not easy to say
now what really was the reason behind its origin. Different people believe
different events to be the cause behind this festival. There are ten mythical
and historical reasons that are possibly behind the Diwali (Deepavali)
celebrations.
• The most well known story behind Diwali is in the Ramayana, the great Hindu
epic. According to Ramayana, Rama, the prince of Ayodhya was ordered by his
father, King Dasharatha, to go away from his country and come back after
living in the forest for fourteen years. So Rama went on exile with his devoted
wife Sita and faithful brother, Lakshmana. When Ravana, the demon king of
Lanka abducted Sita and took her away to his island kingdom of Lanka, Rama
fought against and killed Ravana. He rescued Sita and returned to Ayodhya
after fourteen years. The people of Ayodhya were very happy to hear of their
beloved prince's homecoming. To celebrate Rama's return to Ayodhya, they lit
up their houses with earthen lamps (diyas), burst crackers and decorated the
entire city in the grandest manner. Which is exactly how diwali is celebrated
today
EID-UL-FITR
• Eid-al-Fitr is also called as the Eid-ul-Fitr, Idul-Fitr or
Ramzan Id which indicates the end of Ramadan month
means the month of fasting. This is the most religious
and holy festival for the people that belongs to the
Muslim religion during which they break their fast
• People celebrate Eid by coming together as a family and
spend time with their loved ones and praying namaz
CHRISTMAS
• Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual festival
commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed most
commonly on December 25 as a religious and cultural
celebration among billions of people around the world.
• People celebrate Christmas by coming together as a
family and spend time with their loved ones
So what are the values portrayed in these
festivals?
From the interviews we conducted observed we noticed a
trend. All festivals teach us the value of togetherness and
how important spending time with loved ones is .Another
teaching is how important the continuation of tradition
is.
What do other cultures think of these
celebrations?
In India People of other cultures come together well during
celebrations. For example this year Eid and Ganesh
chaturti overlapped. During the festival, Hindus paused
their celebrations to let 13,000 Muslims pray their namaz
FESTIVAL CELEBRATIONS IS SCHOOLS
In billabong high we celebrate festivals. It helps teach students values and tradition as
well as being fun
For example, This diwali students made rangoli (designs made with colorful sand)
GRANDPARENTS INTERVIEW
When we interview our grandparents we asked
them one question “how has festivals
celebrations changed?” here’s the differences
they cited
• Festivals have become louder (fire crackers)
• Celebrations have become grander
• People of other religions celebrate too
CONCLUSION
In our research it was obvious that people are
tolerant and respectful towards other culture’s
celebrations.
Furthermore, people even celebrated in festivals
that are from other cultures. It just goes to show
how well people get together in India despite
conflict of interests and idolgies.