Lesson in Appreciating Others: The students will have an opportunity to reflect on what their favorite part of Christmas is and what they think is most important. Similar to the Rastafarian Christmas, the most important part of Christmas for us is family. Although the Rastafarians have a different religion than us, we are all alike in the sense that we just want to be around family during Christmastime. We should appreciate all other because although they may look different or celebrate differently than we do, we all work toward the same goal and beliefs: Family is important and we all just want to be loved. CHINESE NEW YEAR JANUARY Brief Description of the Activity: What will you do with the children? In this activity, the students will be read the In this activity, the students will the traditions of the Chinese New Year by enacting the parade of the dancing dragon. The students will read the books about the holiday and learn about the dragon.” Then the students will work in groups of 4 and create a dragon costume that will fit all “dancing of them. The students will show off their costume while creating a dance and taking turns under the head of the dragon. Country (Culture) (Religion) of Origin: This holiday is part of the Chinese culture and it celebrates the beginning of a new calendar year. The traditions of this holiday originated from a myth of a beast call Nian. would come on the first day “Nian of New Year to eat livestock, crops, and even villagers, especially children. To protect themselves, the villagers would put food in front of their doors at the beginning of every year. It was believed that after the Nian ate the food they prepared, it wouldn’t attack any more people. One time, people saw that the Nian was scared away by a little child wearing red. The villagers then understood that the Nian was afraid of the color red. Hence, every time when the New Year was about to come, the villagers would hang red lanterns and red spring scrolls on windows and doors. People also used firecrackers to frighten away the Nian. From then on, Nian never came to the village again. The Nian was eventually captured by Hongjun Laozu, an ancient Taoist monk. The Nian became Hongjun Laozu's mount.”
Lesson in Appreciating Others: The students will have an opportunity to reflect on what their favorite part of Christmas is and what they think is most important. Similar to the Rastafarian Christmas, the most important part of Christmas for us is family. Although the Rastafarians have a different religion than us, we are all alike in the sense that we just want to be around family during Christmastime. We should appreciate all other because although they may look different or celebrate differently than we do, we all work toward the same goal and beliefs: Family is important and we all just want to be loved. CHINESE NEW YEAR JANUARY Brief Description of the Activity: What will you do with the children? In this activity, the students will be read the In this activity, the students will the traditions of the Chinese New Year by enacting the parade of the dancing dragon. The students will read the books about the holiday and learn about the “dancing dragon.” Then the students will work in groups of 4 and create a dragon costume that will fit all of them. The students will show off their costume while creating a dance and taking turns under the head of the dragon. Country (Culture) (Religion) of Origin: This holiday is part of the Chinese culture and it celebrates the beginning of a new calendar year. The traditions of this holiday originated from a myth of a beast call Nian. “Nian would come on the first day of New Year to eat livestock, crops, and even villagers, especially children. To protect themselves, the villagers would put food in front of their doors at the beginning of every year. It was believed that after the Nian ate the food they prepared, it wouldn’t attack any more people. One time, people saw that the Nian was scared away by a little child wearing red. The villagers then understood that the Nian was afraid of the color red. Hence, every time when the New Year was about to come, the villagers would hang red lanterns and red spring scrolls on windows and doors. People also used firecrackers to frighten away the Nian. From then on, Nian never came to the village again. The Nian was eventually captured by Hongjun Laozu, an ancient Taoist monk. The Nian became Hongjun Laozu's mount.”
multicultural_holidays.docx