Sharing the Festival of Lights

The holidays can be a time of reverence for many community members. Jennifer Adams of Blue Oak Charter School in Chico, CA, believes that Blue Oak’s annual “Festival of Lights” helps students share a reverence for all people. “Festival of Lights” is a campus celebration that takes place December 9 – 13. The event is based on the fifth-grade study of Diwali, a festival of lights held by Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, and other groups around the world, and all grades at the charter school participate.

Jennifer teaches fourth grade at Blue Oak Charter School. She’ll teach fifth grade next year and sixth the following year. She stays with her classroom “family” each year until they graduate from eighth grade. She’s been with this group of students from the beginning. She says, “Yes, it is a commitment, and, yes, you really get to see human development as well as look at your own inner development in the process.” The “Festival of Lights” supports that development for students and staff.

All ages have a special place in creating a festival that helps the children appreciate other customs and beliefs.

From the kindergarten and first graders who create a spiral of lights in their classroom with each child walking the spiral to a special song to the fourth graders who create Yule logs and learn about building fires in celebration, to the eighth graders going back nostalgically to visit all their past activities, each grade’s “Festival of Lights” has a different theme. The theme ties into the history and social studies work for that grade. Each grade studies a different culture and the students celebrate the customs of that culture.

Fifth-grade students are the most focused on the festival because it is the original Diwali Festival of Lights. These students study ancient civilizations with a focus on the beginnings of civilization in India, Persia, and Mesopotamia. With the holidays, the emphasis is on light over darkness, good over evil. The class narrows its focus to Rama, a revered avatar, or incarnation of the god Vishnu. The story goes that Rama came back to the area after 14 years of exile to defeat the evil demon king, Ravana, freeing the people, defeating evil, and bringing light back to what was a dark time.

Today the festival is celebrated with lamps, fireworks, and bonfires around the world, and, of course, at Blue Oak, it is celebrated in a special way. The fifth-grade class visits each of the other classrooms. The children enter, holding a water-filled clay pot with a flower floating in it. Each child receives a bindi, a dot on the forehead intended to ward off evil. The lights go off in the room. The fifth graders sing songs of India and share the story of Rama and his victory of defeating evil and bringing back the light.

The festival is about being one with the culture that each grade studies, helping broaden the children’s view of the world. The “Festival of Lights” strengthens student knowledge and grows a profound appreciation for other cultures. This positive experience ripples out from students to their families, from their families to friends. “Festival of Lights” is a chance to touch the whole community with a lesson in history and social studies— a gift for all to share.