At last week’s STUFF magazine session, we were really fortunate to be joined by Jen from MakeBuildGrow to help us learn and celebrate the festival of Diwali. Here at PIE we know how important it is to celebrate our diversity and differences, so this was a really exciting session for everyone to be a part of!
Our attendees learnt about both the Hindu and Sikh stories and completed various activities related to these. Both stories are linked here:
The evening was a crafty and creative heaven, with various opportunities such as making and decorating diwa lamps out of clay. As well as creating henna (mendhi) designs to remember that celebrants of Diwali apply these to their hands as a part of their celebrations. Finger puppets were used and backdrops made to re-enact the story of Diwali into a digital format. Young people were also encouraged to tie positive messages of hope, faith and peace onto 52 pieces of string to represent the 52 princes that Guru Hargobind released.
In between this hive of activity, there were a variety of Indian sweets and savoury treats for everyone to try. The jalebis and mithai (sweets) were a big hit with the young people, whereas the samosas, pakoras and Bombay mix were more of an acquired taste! We loved how open everyone was to trying new things!
Watch out for our excellent and informative stop motion video on our socials that was made by the young people on the evening!