Friday, May 29, 2009

An Indonesian Festival: Eid Al-Adha

December 2008. Heathcote Elementary School, 3rd grade; Teacher: Pam Sparks.

During the theme of festivals and celebrations, Pam Sparks invited me to come to her 3rd grade classroom in Heathcote. In particular, she asked me to speak about the Indonesian holiday that happened at the beginning of December. So, I decided to talk about Eid Al-Adha. It is a big holiday in Indonesia. Almost 90% of Indonesian population (240 million people) are Muslims, so Eid Al-Adha is celebrated in many parts of the country.

Eid Al-Adha is celebrated based on the Quranic story of Prophet Abraham and Prophet Ishmael. It is said that Prophet Abraham dreamed that God asked him to sacrifice his son Ishmael to prove his love and obedience to God. When Abraham was about to perform the sacrifice, the angel Gabriel came and asked him to replace the son with a ram. It falls on the 10th day of the last month in Islamic calendar, Dhul HIjja. Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar.

Students were very inquisitive to ask about the history of the holiday, and what people do during the holiday.
 

They learned that people do communal prayers, give charity, and visit families, neighbors, and friends during the holiday. I brought some pictures that I shared with the students to show the activities people do during the holiday. 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.