Lesson -8 Our Festivals 1. Which festival do you like most? 2. What do we do on a festival? 3. How do we celebrate them? It is the month of November. Satish has just come from his school. Satish : Mother, give me something to eat. My friends are waiting for me at play. Mother : Be comfortable. Wash your hands and come. Satish : Mother, what s there in your hand? (Satish washes his hands and takes lunch.) Mother : I have got a letter for you. Satish : Ma, who has sent it? Have you read it? Mother : It is from your friend, Gautam. I have not opened it yet. Satish : Why? Mother : Because it is bad manners to open other s letter. I want you to read and tell me what is there. Satish : (Opens the letter and reads it.) It reads like this(47)
a Marg, 172, Narmad Saket Nagar, Dewas (M.P.) 008 2 30th October, Dear Satish, onse to your I am happy and well here. This is in resp t a detailed account of ge o t d te an w u yo ch i wh in, ter let nt rece know India is a land of Diwali and Eid celebrations. As you elebrate it in the month festivals. Diwali is one of them. We c Lord Ram s return to of Kartik. It is celebrated to recall n. We got our houses Ayodhya after his victory over Rava n lamps and electric the r ea th wi d e t ora c de nd a d e ash w white the night of Amavasya, bulbs. My mother prepared sweets. In (48)
I celebrated t he festiva l with my parent s, gra nd parent s a nd you nger siste r Pooj a. Everyo ne put on new clothe s. We worshipp ed th e goddes s Lakshmi. Then sweet s wer e distribut ed. W e ate sweet s a nd le t off fir e work s. Reall y it w as a grea t experience. I ho pe yo u wou ld have also enjoyed t he festival of light s a nd happi ness. Eid is anothe r festival of happiness and brotherhoo d. M y frie nd Anee s told me that peopl e observ e fa st and pray the Almight y during t he month o f Ramaza n. A t t he en d of this piou s month Eid i s celebrate d. Peop le assembl e in th e Eidg ah and offer pray ers to th e Almight y. Everybody put s on new clothe s. Th ey sa y Eid Mubarak a nd hug one anot her. Specia l S ewai a nd swee ts are served t o guest s and visit ors. Now th e festive seaso n i s over. Our half ye arly exam s ar e ahea d. Befor e I conclu de, I tel l you one thi ng. I ha ve writte n a lette r to my friend John t o tell us h ow he enjoyed Christma s last yea r. Pleas e conv ey my regard s to uncl e a nd aun t a nd love to littl e Chinky. Yo ur frie nd, Gauta m Rajoriya (49)
Mother : (This is how he reads the letter.) That is very nice. Whenever you write a letter to him, convey my love and blessings. Satish : Ma, may I go out to play now? My friends are waiting for me. Mother : Wait! I have also prepared these sweets for you. First have them and then you can go. But don t be late. As your exams are ahead, you should concentrate on your studies. Satish takes the sweets and rushes to the playground. Exercises Read and Learn brotherhood fire-work offer concentrate put victory let off blessing celebrate season assemble earthen lamp Word Power (A) Give antonyms of the following words. open happy long light go (B) Fill in the blanks with the words given in brackets. (celebrate, earthen lamps, brotherhood, festivals, return) (1) People light on the festival of Diwali. (2) Eid is a festival of happiness and. (3) We Diwali on Kartik Amavasya. (4) India is a land of. (5) Diwali is celebrated to recall Lord Ram s to Ayodhya. (50)
Comprehension A) Answer these questions. (i) When do we celebrate Diwali? (ii) Whom do we worship on Diwali? (iii) How did Satish celebrate Diwali? (iv) What do people do in the month of Ramazan? (v) Who told Gautam about the celebration of Eid? (vi) How do people greet one another on Eid? (B) Read the following sentences and tick true/false. (i) Diwali is celerated in the month of Kartik. [ true/false] (ii) We got our houses whitewashed on Diwali. [ true/false] (iii) Gautam wrote a letter to Satish. [ true/false] (iv) Pooja is the elder sister of Satish. [ true/false] (v) Satish s mother opened the letter herself. [ true/false] Let's Learn Frame questions for the statements given in the table. The first one is done for you in each table. I Statements Questions 1. Ram killed Ravan. - Who killed Ravan? 2. Kalpana Chawla was an - Who? astronaut. 3. Swami Vivekanand was -? a great saint. 4. Gautam wrote a letters to Satish. -? 5. Anees told Gautam about Eid. -? (51)
Statements II Questions 1. The Taj is made of marble. - What is the Taj made of? 2. The earth is a planet. - 3. His mother gave him a letter. - 4. The children were busy with - the fire works. 5. Raj brought a pen for Bhupesh. - Statements III Questions 1. Santosh lived in Bhopal. - Where did Santosh live? 2. The Taj is in Agra. - 3. The Ganga comes from - Gangotri. 4. Satish lives at Dewas. - 5. Gautam celebrated Diwali - at home. Let's Talk Talk to your friends about the festivals they like most. Begin your conversation like this 1. Which festival do you like most and why? 2. When is it celebrated? 3. With whom do you celebrate it? 4. What do you do on this festival? (52)
Let's Read Read the following details in Simaran s Diary and answer the questions given under it. Simaran s Diary Thursday Date : 24 April, 2007 Today we have celebrated Guru Purva, the birth of Guru Nanak Dev ji. I went to the Gurudwara in the morning. I met all my friends and relatives there. Everybody was happy. The Granthi was reciting verses from the holy Guru Granth Saheb. I offered my prayers and took the Prasad. The Granthi blessed me when I bowed before the holy Guru Granth Saheb. For sometime I also sat near the Granthi and recited some of the holy songs of Guru Nanak ji. After it I participated in the langar. Since it was a holiday, I spent the whole day in Gurudwara. I came back at 5 pm. when the ceremony was over. Questions: (i) When did Simaran go to Gurudwara? (ii) Why did she go there? (iii) Who met her in the Gurudwara? (iv) What did Simaran do in the Gurudwara? (v) When did she come back? Let's Write (a) Gautam s friend John sent him a letter in which he had described how he celebrated Christmas. With the help of the given words develop a paragraph about John s celebration of Christmas. Clue words - 25th of December, birth, sacrifice, pray, Church, Jesus Christ, Santa (53)
Claus, love and happiness, candle, decorate, enjoy, wear, dance Begin your paragraph like this- On the 25th of December I celebrated Christmas. It celebrates the birthday of Jesus Christ. (b) Write a short note on how Satish celebrated Diwali. Let's do it Talk to your parents/teachers, find out the following information about the main festivals of our country and write it in the given table. S.No. Name of festival day/date of celebration 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. (54)