INDIAN CULTURE

INDIAN CULTURE INTRODUCTION

Originates in India Culture goes back thousands of years.

Very rich culture. GOING TO TALK ABOUT:

- The main religion - Cultures big festivities

- Somethings that the country is well known for

- Traditions - Dietary customs

- Kahoot ! - Food sampling

Hinduism of INDIA

• Of the population in India, the largest amount of the people are HINDUS

• Hinduism is one of the worlds oldest religions • thousands of years worth of history. • It is a fusion of many different cultures

Gods and Goddesses of Hinduism

• There are roughly 330 million gods and goddesses of the Hindu religion. • Three Main gods: Brahma - The Creator Vishnu - The Preserver Shiva – Thee destroyer

Major Festivities Diwali • also known as Deepavili

• festival of light

• families come together and: - Exchange gifts - put brand new and special clothes - light Fireworks - have special prayers said - Pujas

• Symbolically celebrates the return of the Lord Rama, his wife Sita

and his brother Lakshman from exile of 14 years after Rama defeated the demon Ravana after he kidnapped Sita

Days of Diwali • Day 1 – Dhanteras - start of the festival and the women and girls of the family decorate the house with lights or candles and decorate the front of their homes with kolums (designs done on the floor which is done with colored powder). In the evening, they have a prayer session dedicated to the goddess Lakshmi (goddess of good fortune).

• Day 2 - Naraka Chaturdasi - Also called Choti Diwali. The day celebrates the asura (demon) Narakasura being killed on this day by Krishna, Satyabhama and Kali.

• Day 3 - Lakshmi Puja - The third day is the main festive day. People wear new clothes or their best outfits as the evening approaches. Then diyas are lit, pujas are offered to Lakshmi, because it believed that Lakshmi roams the earth on this day, so they try to welcome Lakshmi into their homes and bring good fortune into their homes by putting the lights up.

Days of Diwali • Day 4 - Padwa, Balipratipada - This day ritually celebrates the love and mutual devotion between the wife and husband. The husbands give thoughtful gifts, or elaborate ones to respective spouses. Sometimes brothers go and pick up their sisters from their in-laws home for this important day.

• Day 5 - Bhai Duj, Bhaiya Dooji - It celebrates the sister-brother loving relationship, in a spirit similar to Raksha Bandhan but with different rituals. The day ritually emphasizes the love and lifelong bond between siblings.

HOLI • Also known as the festival of colours or the festival of

sharing love. • Commemorates the god Vishnu killing a indestructible

demon and his sister in another form, as the god Narisimha.

• The celebration last for about 16 days. • Also commemorates the divine love of Radha for Krishna • THE FUN PART: - people wear white these days and try not to get coloured and try to get others coloured by throwing coloured powder water or even colour water in water balloons at them.

GANDHI JAYANTHI

• National celebration • Reminds the country about Gandhi and about his life. • Commemorates the protest and struggles he faced to get

independence for India. • Many TV channels of India have programs that day to go through

his life. • Special prayers are done this day. • Is on his Birthday – October 2nd

Bharatanatyam

• Famous Indian form of dance that tells a story • Mostly performed by girls. • Hand gestures, dance moves, and facial expression are made to tell • the story • Heavy make up and elegant clothes (costumes of the character • being played) are put on for the show. • This form of dance has been danced in India for many centuries

ART Of INDIA – Kolums • Is done by women in front of their homes to bring, in their

perspective, good luck.

• Coloured powder is used to make designs like floral or beautiful geometric pattern. The Peacock is the most famous design done for this form of art.

• Can be very simple or very colourful and elegant.

Traditional Clothing - Women • Women wear sarees, lehenga (short top, long dress with a

long shawl that goes around), churidar (long dress with pants and shawl) etc.

• Sarees are worn in many ways depending on the area in India.

• Young girls wear chunidar, lehengas etc., as well.

• Young girls don’t wear sarees, they wear half sarees. Young girls start to wear sarees after they have become of age in India.

Traditional Clothing - Men • In South India – men wear dhotis/veti with a shirt and a shawl, but

a small one • In North India – men wear a sharwaani/achkan which is like a tight

light coat with pants and shawl. They also wear a turban with it as well

Cricket in India

• Is the nations most favourite sport.

• It is like baseball but you run between the wickets that are set up a few metres away from each other

• The ball is harder and the bat is flatter than other bats.

Swastika • Nazi’s took the symbol and tiled it a bit

• It means peace

• Originated around 13,000 to 10,000 B.C

• It is found on the hands of some of the Hindu gods

Om • Looks like a 3 with a hook attached to it • Is use for Indian meditation methods • It is associated with the concepts of “concept

sound” or “mystical symbol” or “affirmation to something divine”

• It refers to Atman (soul, self-within) and Brahma ( ultimate reality, entirely of the universe , truth, divine, etc.)

• It is the most important symbol in the Hindu religion

• Also known as Omkara

INDIAN FLAG

• Adopted in July 22nd,1947 • Has the three stripes - Saffron(orange): strength and courage and sacrifice

- White: Peace and truth - Green: fertility, growth and auspiciousness of the land. Also faith and chivalry • The wheel in the middle was first called the Chakra, now called the Ashoka

Chakra and has changed meaning over time. 1 – It first represented the spinning wheel Gandhi used to make his clothes. It showed how Gandhi always tried to promote people to make their own clothes rather than depend on corporations to make stuff for them. It was called the Chakra then

2 – Now, the Ashoka Chakra, now represents the eternal wheel of the law of India.

British Indian Flag - 1880–1947 Indian Flag Idea - 1907 Gandhi’s Flag - 1921

INDIAN FLAGS THROUGH TIME

India Flag Idea – 1931 Present day Flag

HINDU FUNERAL • The funeral viewing occurs for a few days. • People will come and pay respects to the person who died and they

will give their sympathies to the family. • The people coming will give flowers or they will give flower mala

(necklace). • After, they will take the body to the graveyard to burn it. Men only. • They will have the man/boy in the family will preform a rite and then

they will cremate near a river or on a river bank • Then, they will offer food ( have a minor feast) and give it to their

family members and offer to the poor.

Hindu Marriage

• 8 different types of marriage • One of them is a Brahma Marriage. • Celebration last for about 3 days • 1st day is called the Mehndi – the bride wears henna for design. At the ceremony people

will design the brides hands one by one if they want. • 2nd day is the reception. This party is done at party hall and the guest come and

congratulate the couple and wish them the best. • The final day is the wedding ceremony. The will have this at either a hall or temple. The

bride and groom will sit in front of a fire and they will say prayers. The priest will give a necklace that the groom gifts the bride and will put a toe ring. This necklace and ring is a symbol that the girl is married.

Sadangu

• This ceremony occurs for young girls who have become of age. • The women in the family will sit the young girl in a pool of yellow

coloured water with flowers in it and pour the water on her head and some milk as well.

• They will dress the girl in a half saree for the first time and the women in the family will give their blessings

• Back in the day, they do this ceremony to show that the girl is now ready to be married, because young girls used to get married very young so the tradition has passed on, but now it just celebrates the situation.

DIETARY CUSTOMS

• Eat with your hand – symbolically thinking to try to bring all you senses into eating the food.

- also for sanitary reasons. • the food is eaten in very small serving • Sometimes eaten on a banana leaf. • Vegetarian will not have meat curries • The non-vegs will not have beef because one of the Hindu god’s

vehicle is a cow.

POGAL RECIPE

• Ronisha Homework\Grade 10\Religon\Culminating Task - Indian Culture\VEN PONGAL RECIPE.docx

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