Celebrating Diwali: The Festival of Lights

 

Goddess Lakshmi
by Raja Ravi Varma
1848-1906

“Hinduism insists on the brotherhood of not only all mankind but of all that lives.”  Mahatma Gandhi

“Diwali or Deepavali is one of the biggest and auspicious festivals celebrated by Hindus all around the globe. The festival of lights signifies peace and joy, the victory of good over evil, and light over darkness every day. It is one of the most symbolic Hindu festivals, and all the communities in the country celebrate it with much pomp. During this festival, people clean their homes, decorate every corner with lights, lamps, diyas, flowers, rangoli, and candles. Families also perform Lakshmi Puja and pray to the Goddess of wealth to bless them with health, wealth, and prosperity.”
https://www.hindustantimes.com/lifestyle/festivals/diwali-2021-significance-history-date-time-puja-muhurat-and-all-you-need-to-know-101635849456204.html

Diwali, celebrated this year on November 4, is also known as the Festival of Lights. I offer you some story sites from India to help you celebrate.

Hitopadesha Tales - A compilation of short stories following the pattern of prose and verse. 
http://tinyurl.com/24vvn29

Jataka Tales - These fables, written in 300 B.C. were intended to impart values of self-sacrifice, morality, honesty, and other values.
http://tinyurl.com/36o6cg3 

Celebrating the Country of India
This is an older blog post I shared in January of this year. It is full of wonderful resources consisting of  several story collections, along with individual stories, book selections, curriculum and more. 
http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2021/01/celebrate-country-of-india.html

Here are some stories of light from around the world.

STORIES

The Blue Light – Germany
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0562.html#grimm

The Buried Moon - England
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/meft/meft24.htm

The Goddess of Light - Canada
https://fairytalez.com/the-goddess-of-light/

Light Makes Prosperity - India
http://tinyurl.com/7c4crnt

Crow Brings Daylight – Native American – Inuit
http://tinyurl.com/7zyzudr

The Origin of Light – Native American
http://tinyurl.com/85x6uhg

Raven Steals the Light – Native American
http://tinyurl.com/5lnq26

BOOKS

21 Children’s Books About Diwali
https://coloursofus.com/21-childrens-books-about-diwali-the-festival-of-lights/

The best Diwali books to share the Festival of Lights with your child
https://www.motherandbaby.com/reviews/education-toys/best-diwali-books/

PBS – Celebrate Diwali with Books!
https://www.pbs.org/parents/thrive/celebrate-diwali-with-books

CRAFTS

Diwali Diya Mobile 
https://www.activityvillage.co.uk/diya-mobile  

Diwali Door Hanging - Traditional embroidered door hanging to welcome visitors and hopefully the Goddess of Fortune Lakshmi. 
https://www.activityvillage.co.uk/diwali-door-hanging  

Diwali Coloring Pages 
https://www.activityvillage.co.uk/diwali-colouring-pages  

RECIPES

100 Diwali Recipes

https://www.indianhealthyrecipes.com/diwali-sweets-recipes-diwali-recipes/

SOMETHING EXTRA

8 Easy Diwali Crafts for Kid
https://theeducatorsspinonit.com/easy-diwali-crafts-for-kids/

Diwali in History
https://www.diwalifestival.org/diwali-in-history.html

The Lesser Known Stories about Diwali
https://www.tell-a-tale.com/the-lesser-known-stories-about-diwali/

National Geographic – Diwali is India’s most important holiday
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/diwali-history-customs-indian-festival-of-lights

 

 

Please note, websites change at a rapid pace and weblinks may change or break without notice. I cannot be responsible for redirected or broken links.  At the time of this posting all links were in working order. Thank you for understanding.

 

Karen Chace 2021 © 

This blog post was researched and compiled by Karen Chace. Permission for private use is granted. Distribution, either electronically or on paper is prohibited without my expressed written permission. For permission, please contact me at storybug@aol.com. Of course, if you wish to link to my blog via your website, blog, newsletter, Facebook page or Twitter please feel free to do so; I appreciate your support and personal integrity.

 

Slow and Steady Wins the Race: Stor e Telling November December 2010

Tortoise and Hare
from Childhood Favorites
and Fairy Tales
1909

I have penned the Stor E Telling column since January of 2002 and the articles from 2002-2006 are the publications page of my website found here http://tinyurl.com/llnn47y . I will be adding the columns from 2007 to 2012 to that page as well. However, I am in the process of checking what link URL's have changed or are now defunct. It is a time consuming process so I am taking the “slow and steady” approach via Aesop and will post the individual columns on my blog for now.

I will not be adding current columns until the following year, so if you want immediate access to the newest websites, consider becoming a member of the National Storytelling Network.

Please feel free to comment on the blog and let me know if you find this useful.

November/December 2010      

Prevent Your Work From Being Stolen – Understand US Copyright Laws.

http://tinyurl.com/23sg399

What to Do When Someone Steals Your Work
http://tinyurl.com/3xmjddx

Diwali, celebrated this year on November 5, is also known as the Festival of Lights. I offer you some story sites from Eastern India to help you celebrate.

Indian Fairy Tales - Twenty-nine tales from Joseph Jacobs.

http://tinyurl.com/6l3956

Hitopadesha Tales - A compilation of short stories following the pattern of prose and verse. 

http://tinyurl.com/24vvn29

Jataka Tales - These fables, written in 300 B.C. were intended to impart values of self-sacrifice, morality, honesty and other values.
http://tinyurl.com/36o6cg3

Panchatantra Tales - A legendary collection of short stories from India composed in the 2nd century B.C. “The purpose behind the composition was to implant moral values and governing skills in the young sons of the king.”
http://tinyurl.com/23hpacy

Stop the Violence Day is November 22, 2010. Here are some sites to use in the classroom and beyond.

Cyberbullying.org – From our friend in Canada, a useful website with related resources. http://www.cyberbullying.org/

Education World - Many sites and resources to use in the classroom and community to help eradicate bullying.

http://tinyurl.com/26r2l48

Seeds of Peace -"A non-profit, non-political organization dedicated to preparing teenagers from areas of conflict with the leadership skills required to promote coexistence and peace. Their outreach program also includes a Conflict Resolution CD Rom which is used in both Israeli and Palestinian schools. They also publish The Olive Branch, an online magazine to further their work in the world.” 

http://www.seedsofpeace.org/

Story-Lovers.com – Jackie Baldwin offers a collection of stories, books, and more to assist you in presenting an anti-bullying program.

http://tinyurl.com/34jazlr

Education World – The site offers a vast number of links on how to deal with bullying. Lesson plans, activities and more.

http://tinyurl.com/26r2l48

Unlocking the Classroom: The Storytelling Project’s Anti-racism Curriculum

“…developed at Barnard and in NYC schools and includes over 30 lessons for high school students that include arts-based storytelling activities to discuss racism.”
http://tinyurl.com/25zwa8r

St. Lucia Day in Sweden is celebrated on December 13. It is also known as The Festival of Lights, representing the triumph of light over the winter darkness. Here are some tales to enjoy as you gather around the fire.

Swedish Fairy Tales and Legends – Fifty six stories to enjoy.
http://tinyurl.com/26qk4jp

The Swedish Fairy Book – Twenty eight fairy tales.
http://www.worldoftales.com/Swedish_folktales.html

Story-lovers.com – You can always count on Jackie Baldwin and her website to have story sources on any subject and Swedish stories are no exception.

http://tinyurl.com/2amnaq9

Christmas Traditions Worldwide – From History.com a vast collection of Christmas traditions, its history with additional information on Christmas carols.

http://tinyurl.com/359sebx

Storybug.net – A collection of Christmas sites I have gathered through the years.

http://tinyurl.com/35qlryj

Origami Resource Center – Step-by-step instructions on how to make a lovely Christmas tree to add to your storytelling or classroom programs.

http://tinyurl.com/3xx5udj

Miscellaneous

 

Since we can never have enough animal stories in our repertoire a free, downloadable book filled with stories from China, Africa, India and more.

Animal Folk Tales – by Anne A. Stanley, published in 1916, now available via Google books.

http://tinyurl.com/36dswh3

 

And if you missed any of the previous “Slow and Steady…” blog posts here are the links to the series so far.

 

2007

January February 2007
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/06/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e.html
March April 2007
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/06/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_30.html
May June 2007
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/07/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e.html
July August 2007
http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/07/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_15.html
September October 2007
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/07/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_20.html
November December 2007
http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/07/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_29.html

2008

January February 2008
http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/08/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e.html
March April 2008
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/08/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_11.html
May June 2008
http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/08/slow-and-steady-wins-race-may-june-2008.html
Summer 2008
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/08/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_25.html
Fall 2008
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/09/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e.html

2009

January February 2009
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/09/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_10.html
May June 2009
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/09/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_14.html
July August 2009
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/09/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_21.html
September October 2009
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/09/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_29.html
November December 2009
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/10/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e.html

January February 2010
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/10/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_13.html

April May 2010

http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/10/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_28.html

July August 2010
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/11/slow-and-steady-stor-e-telling-july.html
September October 2010
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/11/slow-and-steady-stor-e-telling.html

 

Karen Chace 2013 ©

This blog post was researched and compiled by Karen Chace. Permission for private use is granted. Distribution, either electronically or on paper is prohibited without my expressed written permission. For permission please contact me at storybug@aol.com. Of course, if you wish to link to my blog via your website, blog, newsletter, Facebook page or Twitter please feel free to do so; I greatly appreciate your support and personal integrity.