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| Collective Worship: Together |
Programme 6: Fire
Themes: the power of fire, good over evil, the Hindu festival of Holi
Preparation for the programme:
Focus object: a lit candle, a picture of the fire service, or 999 written on a large piece of card.
Focus image: to display a larger version of the image of fire click here.
An image search on the internet (e.g. on Google images) will provide many pictures of modern-day celebrations of the Holi festival.
Programme content:
Feature: children visit the London Fire Brigade to find out what happens to a 999 call
Song: Come and Praise 2, 78: 'By Brother Sun'
Story: A bonfire for Holi
Reflection: on the good and bad things about fire. Thanks for the fire brigade. Of good triumphing over evil.
Pre-programme questions:
What do you know about fire?
What is the power of fire?
Pre-programme information:
Holi is a Hindu festival celebrated at Spring time. People light huge bonfires in fields and on street corners, and throw coconuts and grains of rice into the flames as offerings to the gods. The fire reminds them of the ancient story of Hiranya Kashipu.
Story synopsis: A bonfire for Holi by Anita Ganeri
There was once an evil demon king called Hiranya Kashipu. He was boastful, greedy and cruel and everyone had to obey his commands. Indeed, he declared himself god, to be worshipped by everyone.
One day his kind son, Prahlad, came across a woman who was praying to the god, Lord Vishnu, to save her kittens which had fallen down a well. Prahlad rebuked her believing his father to be god, but was surprised when the kittens miraculously came out of the well. From that day on he knew Vishnu was god and not his father.
Hiranya Kashipu tried lots of ways to punish his son. He had him thrown from a cliff, eaten by snakes and trampled by elephants; but each time Lord Vishnu protected Prahlad. Finally the king's wicked sister, Holika, said she would help to get rid of Prahlad and led him to a huge fire built in the palace grounds. She told Prahlad to follow her into the flames, believing that her own magic powers would protect her from the flames. But once again Lord Vishnu protected Prahlad and took away the evil Holika's powers so that she perished.
To this day, people light bonfires at Holi time to remember the story of Holika and of how good triumphs over evil. They pray for Lord Vishnu to protect them and watch as the flickering flames rise high into the air and carry any evil spirits away. Afterwards, they streak their foreheads with ashes from the fire to bring them good luck in the year ahead.
Story questions:
Why was King Hiranya Kashipu so cross with his son?
Would you have stood up to the King if you'd been Prahlad?
What evil things did the King plot to make his son worship him?
Do you know any other stories where good triumphs over evil (e.g. fairy stories like Snow White or Cinderella might be most familiar to children)?
Why are these kinds of stories important?
Activities:
Write your own good versus evil story. Will it start with 'once upon a time' and sound like a fairy story, or will it be an everyday story about the kind of people you meet in your own home town or village?
Find out more about Holi traditions. People sometimes throw coconuts and grains of rice into the flames as offerings to the gods. They also throw coloured water over each other.
Holi is a spring festival, looking forward to the days of new growth. Why would a story of goodness triumphing over evil be a good story for this time of year?
Write some poems about the awesome power of fire - it can give us light and heat, but can also burn and destroy everything in its path.
Invite someone in from the fire brigade to talk about firefighting and what to do if there is an emergency.
Weblinks:
Click here for information about Holi from the BBC Schools online website.
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Listen to an extract from the series
Come and Praise 1
