Week 4 Lab

Story Book Research 

Festivals and Holidays:

Holi - 

• festival of colors
• celebrates good over evil
• originated in India, but due to people moving, has spread across the world
• the festival lasts a night and a day, and starts on the night of a full moon and continues into the following day
• The night Holi stars, people gather around a bonfire and perform religious rituals that are meant to cleanse the body of all evil.
• the morning after, people celebrate by throwing color stained powders at each other and wear colorful outfits. Friends, enemies, man, woman, children, everyone participates in the color fights, which makes for quite the aesthetic. 
• People celebrate with certain intoxicants, one being a drink that originates from cannabis, which leads to quite the jolly time
• after the day is over, families and relatives get together and enjoy the night with each others presence. 
• Krishna
• The history of Holi can be dated back to Krishna. When Krishna was a baby, he had been poisoned by drinking the breast milk of a demon named Putana. After drinking this, his skin color had gone dark. Krishna wanted to be with the goddess Radha, but feared she would not like him due to his skin color. Krishna's mother got fed up, and told Radha to color Krishna's face with whatever color she pleased. She did so, and after that they had fallen in love. This is why people across the globe today celebrate Holi by throwing colored powder at each other. 

Holi

Rama Navani - 

• this holiday celebrates the birth of Rama, the incarnation of Vishnu 
• celebrated by people reading The Ramayana and telling the tales of Rama
• some celebrate by going to Temples, others celebrate in their homes
• some people celebrate by playing music with their families
• others celebrate by decorating small sculptures of Rama and then placing them in cradles
• it celebrates the establishment of the Dharma
• the good over evil

Rama decorated and placed in a cradle 

Ganesh Chaturthi - 

• celebrates the arrival of Hindu Deity Ganesh to earth
• clay idols are placed around homes, and in public places
• chanting of Hindu texts and rituals, lasts 10 days
• some people fast, while others indulge in sweets
• in Mumbai alone there are about 150,000 statues that appear in the ten day span of the holiday
• on the 10th day of the holiday, a massive clay statue of Ganesh is taken to a nearby body of water, either a river or a sea, and is placed in it. The statue starts to dissolve, and signifies Ganesh's return to Mount Kailash
• the holiday signifies new beginnings, and the overcoming of obstacles.

Ganesh 

Reading Notes: PDE Ramayana Part D

  Ramayana Part D:

• Ravana tries to trick Sita into thinking Rama was killed, fake
• Garuda heals Rama and his army, they too are enemies of Ravana's people
• Kumbhakarna is woken from his slumber once a year
• eats lots of food
• destroys people 
• drinks wine
• is then killed by Rama's arrow
• Hanuman is sent to the Himalayas to acquire a healing herb for the army
• Ravana's son is slain, he seeks vengeance
• wants to kill Sita
• Laksmana is pierced with an arrow by Ravana, Hanuman arrives with the himalayan herbs and saves him
• Rama gets assistance from the God's above and is sent backup to kill Ravana
• Rama uses a flaming bow that was given to him by Brahma and kills Ravana. The city and the God's rejoice
• Rama questions taking Sita back because she resided in the house of Ravana for so long
• Sita is sent into a fire as a test, to see if she is still pure.
• her loyalty is proven
• Rama takes her back
• Rama returns after 14 years and is finally crowned King
• Sita was exiled by Rama because people in the community did not believe she was faithful while staying at Ravana's house. 
• Sita has two sons with a poet named Lava and Kusha 
• Rama is taken back by this
• Rama departs the world as Vishnu

Bibliography - PDE Ramayana

The mighty Ravana

Reading Notes: PDE Ramayana Part C

 Ramayana Part C:

• Sugriva, a monkey-king, will now help Rama find Sita
• Sugriva and his brother Vali are enemies now after an incident where Sugriva accidentally trapped Vali because he believed he was dead.
• Vali stole his wife in hatred
• Vali's mother does not want him to fight knowing Rama will be there
• Rama ambushes Vali while he fights Sugriva
• violent death for Vali 
• arrow kills him
• Rama sits in the forest, his heart longs for Sita
• Jatayu's brother (bird) tells Sugriva's monkeys that Sita is in Lanka
• Sampati and Jatyu
• my favorite story
• Hanuman finds the palace of Ravana, filled with jewels and women, but no Sita
• Sita is found in some trees, guarded by demons
• Ravana threatens to torture Sita and kill her if she does not obey his commands
• Hanuman is captured
• Hanuman's tail was set on fire
• Hanuman sets fire to Lanka, but finds sita safely at the trees. 
• Vibhishana, the brother of Ravana, advises that they return Sita to Rama otherwise Lanka and its people would die. Ravana scolds him and so he joins forces with Rama instead, leaving Lanka. 

Bibliography - PDE Ramayana

Hanuman